TAL AVIV, Israel
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has said he received a promise from Russian President Vladimir Putin not to kill his Ukrainian counterpart.
According to news reports on Sunday, Bennett had asked Putin about whether he intended to kill Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the early days of the war.
“I asked ‘what’s up with this? Are you planning to kill Zelenskyy?’ He said ‘I won’t kill Zelenskyy.’ I then said to him ‘I have to understand that you’re giving me your word that you won’t kill Zelenskyy.’ He said ‘I’m not going to kill Zelenskyy.’”
Bennett said he then called Zelenskyy to inform him of Putin’s pledge.
“‘Listen, I came out of a meeting, he’s not going to kill you.’ He asks, ‘are you sure?’ I said ’100 percent he won’t kill you.’”
The five-hour interview on Saturday was posted by Bennett on his personal YouTube channel and Twitter account.
Meanwhile, Russian forces have been attempting to encircle and capture Bakhmut, a city in the eastern Donbass region, for weeks, and appear to be making slow, grinding and costly progress.
