Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visits a production facility for interceptor drones at an unknown location in Ukraine on July 25, 2025. (Symbolic image)Image: EPA PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE
In an emotional message, the Ukrainian president recalled the beginnings of the defensive struggle and called on his Western partners. What remains particularly memorable is the setting.
Feb 24, 2026, 5:59 p.m02/25/2026, 08:11
It is a remarkable tour that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj is taking us on. You can see long corridors in the semi-darkness that now appear deserted, but in which “hundreds of people” crowded together on February 24, 2022 to seek protection from Russian bombs.
“I need ammunition, not a taxi.”
Volodymyr Zelensky, 2022
You can also see the small underground office from where Zelensky spoke on the phone with US President Joe Biden and, in the hour of greatest need, said the legendary sentence: “I need ammunition, not a taxi.” On the desk is a small model of the Antonov, the largest aircraft in the world at the time, which was destroyed at the start of the war. A small icon hangs on the white concrete wall above the Ukrainian coat of arms.
This is where Volodymyr Zelensky spent most of his time immediately after the Russian attackVideo: Watson
On the fourth anniversary of the Russian attack, the Ukrainian president released a 19-minute video in which, in addition to an emotional speech, he shows the underground bunker complex on Bankova Street in Kiev for the first time. According to his own statements, Zelenskyj spent most of his time here immediately after the Russian attack. He only went upstairs “to speak to the Ukrainian people.”
Eye drops and drinking water bottles
Undoubtedly, prior to the release of the recording on Tuesday morning, a great deal of scrutiny was exercised as to which details would and would not be shown at this premiere. You can see bottles of eye drops and drinking water bottles on Zelensky’s desk. The entire complex is divided into sectors that are connected by seemingly endless, yellow-and-white-painted corridors.
Undoubtedly, the facility in the underground of the Kiev presidential residence extends over many hundreds of meters. In the offices and meeting rooms, the Ukrainian flags are often the only splash of color. The neon advertising boxes that decorate the concrete corridors with patriotic sayings and pictures are striking. In front of the stairs that lead to the ground floor there is such a neon sign with a picture of a sunflower field.
Today marks exactly four years since Putin started his three-day push to take Kyiv. And that says a great deal about our resistance, about how Ukraine has fought all this time. Behind those words stood millions of our people, immense courage, incredibly hard work, endurance, and… pic.twitter.com/9qiqACurhx
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 24, 2026
The Ukrainian President’s X-Pst on the fourth anniversary
In his video tour, Zelenskyj leaves it open to what extent and when the bunker complex is still in use. However, this serves as an effective background for his look back at the early days of the war, when no one believed Ukraine would be able to wage a successful defensive battle. Zelensky quotes the sentence that was often heard in Kiev at the time: “You think I fell to my knees? No, I’m just lacing up my combat boots.”
“We can be driven into shelters, but we can never be forced underground forever.”
Volodymyr Zelensky
He summarizes his homage to the Ukrainian will to resist, which remains unbroken despite the long list of Russian war crimes, with the sentence: “We can be driven into shelters, but we can never be forced underground forever.” Inevitably, the Ukrainian people emerge from the bunkers and continue to fight for their freedom and future.
Roses from the subway station
The images in which Zelenskyj runs to the flower shop in the subway station and buys a bouquet of red roses to place at the memorial site for the fallen soldiers are also effectively staged.
He combines the message of the invincibility of his own population with references to reconquests (Kherson, Kharkiv region) and air strikes on Russian oil industry targets. The message: Ukraine is not only holding its own, it is fighting back – and Putin cannot win the war militarily.
Finally, Zelensky underlines the importance of international support and thanks Western partners, whom he warns against a slackening of efforts and normalization efforts. At the same time, he demonstratively wants the US President to visit Kiev. Only here, Zelensky is certain, can Donald Trump grasp the true meaning of the Ukrainian defensive war.
That’s why peace negotiations shouldn’t “devalue” the fight so far; real security guarantees are needed. In particular, an agreement must be accepted by the Ukrainian population.
With this, the Ukrainian president is signaling on the fourth anniversary of the Russian attack: Peace, yes – but not at the price of sovereignty and dignity. And all of this against the backdrop of a production that is as visually powerful as it is sophisticated.
(aargauerzeitung.ch)