MARGARET BRENAN: The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. It comes to us from Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. Good afternoon sir. PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: Good morning. MARGARET BRENAN: Mr. President, Russian forces appear to be withdrawing from northern Ukraine. Do you think this means that Putin’s thinking is changing? PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY: Thank you for this question. You know, MARGARITA, we – we have retired from some locations. In others, they are rearranging themselves because of the conflict – the situation is difficult. There were some communities that tried to take over many times, and that’s a tragedy because our army had to take it back as well. Thus, the city of Chornobaivka- nine times tried to capture it. But we believe that this is the realignment, in our opinion. Now they change tactics. They were trying to take Kyiv and some cities in the Kiev region. Some of them have been occupied and then destroyed everything. Citizens, houses, stole washing machines and equipment. So they were also torturers. I think you have seen the clips we shared with you. It’s important for the free people of the United States to take a look and understand and see for themselves. Before the war, when there was a lot of free time, we watched various movies as well as war movies. But we could not imagine such a thing because it is a manic decision to destroy the whole nation. Well, in terms of tactics and their withdrawal, and what is Putin’s strategy, they are now focusing on eastern Ukraine. So this corridor, which runs from the Crimea to the east of Ukraine, is in the south of Ukraine. Here, too, they are trying to focus on armaments, the development of their personnel, the Chechen troops occupying the cities. They brought people from different parts of the world because they had a shortage of personnel and now they are grouping all these troops in the south and east of our country. MARGARET BRENAN: The images you are talking about have been described by leaders around the world as horrible. The mayor of Kiev used the term genocide. The Vice President asks you if it is fascism or genocide as to what is left around Kyiv. Do you feel that people will fulfill this promise to hold Vladimir Putin accountable for war crimes? PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: Everything must be fair and in accordance with justice, as the civilized world will decide. We believe in justice, in the justice of the western world – and therefore the question is not just about the leader of the Russian Federation. We would not think it would be fair to take only him. I think that all military commanders, all those who gave instructions and orders, should be adequately punished. Adequate punishment for these people is difficult to achieve. It must be done according to the law and what they have done. And I want to apologize to you and to those people who are watching us now, but for some things they have done. When we find people with their hands tied behind their backs and beheaded. I do not understand such things. I do not understand the children who were killed and tortured. So it was not enough just to kill for these criminals. Maybe they wanted to take gold or laundry and kill them, but they also tortured them as they did so. And your question is perfectly fair, but I do not have the answer. I do not know which law or prison sentence would be sufficient for this. As a father of two and as president, I think these people, if they are put behind bars, are too little for what they have done. MARGARET BRENAN: Is this genocide? PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY: Indeed, this is genocide. The elimination of the whole nation and people. We are the citizens of Ukraine. We have more than 100 nationalities. It is about the destruction and extermination of all these nationalities. We are the citizens of Ukraine and we do not want to submit to the policy of the Russian Federation. That is why we are being destroyed and exterminated, and that is what is happening in 21st century Europe. So this is the martyrdom of the whole nation. MARGARET BRENAN: In the southeastern part of your country, the city of Mariupol, do you have any success in evacuating civilians? PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: Many people, many thousands of people have been evacuated. In some cities, 35, 30, 40,000 have been evacuated. So in total, hundreds of thousands. However, there are still hundreds of thousands excluded. Some of them are blocked or behind bars. To answer your question about Mariupol, before the start of this full-scale war and the occupation of Mariupol, there were a lot of people and all the corridors were blocked, including the humanitarian corridors, the food and water supply. So in this city now, there are 150,000 – many corpses on the street. Many wounded between military and civilians. The evacuation takes place only when the Russian side agrees to a Ukrainian proposal to open a corridor. Thus, the corridor for food or water simply does not exist in those cities that are occupied by Russia. The corridor in which we agree with the Russian side to just let the world go. Some of them walk tens of kilometers to get to where we are. So 120 kilometers on foot – it is simply impossible. Many of them have walked. Many of them have died on the way. Some of them had to be taken by others and taken out of these besieged cities. So on a daily basis, every day, we submit the proposal not only to unblock but at least to send the transfer there. So many people were shot and killed. We sent these people with these convoys with journalists and priests. We thought that these people would not shoot the representatives of the church, so at first ours were not afraid. Then all this was blocked and people were shot. So that’s the only thing right now. They – only when they agree and open the city, people start running as fast as they can. But it can not bring food, water. Therefore, it is a humanitarian catastrophe there. MARGARET BRENNAN: Mr President, your group has shared with us a video, images that your government has collected of what is left behind outside Kyiv and which I want to share with our viewers. And I want to ask you about that. And looking at and listening to what Vladimir Putin said. It is called Ukraine, not a real country. He said it was controlled by young Nazis. They call you a drug dealer. Is there anyone you can negotiate with? PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY: As President of Ukraine, it can not be just my personal view of President Putin and a dialogue with the Russian Federation. I must defend the interests of my country. Therefore, it is difficult to say how, in the final analysis, what has been done, we can have any kind of negotiations with Russia. This is on a personal level. But as president, I have to do it. Every war must end. Just the end. I am not talking about ending this in peace, because peace in this situation, when there are thousands of dead, is something I am not comfortable with. But there is no other way. That’s what I’m saying as president, there is no other way but dialogue, if we do not want hundreds of thousands, millions to die. But it is important that there is agreement between the two sides and understanding or at least the desire to understand that we need to have a dialogue. Because we will stand until the end. And they have to understand that. Therefore, I continue to talk about this dialogue, which I have been saying throughout my term as President. Margaret Brennan: Russia’s peace negotiator said today that Ukraine has agreed on a number of conditions: to remain neutral, not to join a military bloc and to refuse to host military bases. Do you have any points of agreement with Russia at this point? PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY: Representatives can not agree – or disagree. They can discuss different perspectives and perspectives on the possible future agreement between the two sides, so submit proposals, have discussions, discuss certain issues. Because only the president can support it – or not just the president, but the whole nation. So the approval will be at the level of the country’s leaders here. The important thing in this agreement is the security guarantees. Security guarantees should include a circle of countries that will support our country. And in the event of Russian aggression against Ukraine, these leaders in these countries will assist Ukraine with different capabilities, following certain security terms to be agreed between these security-guaranteeing states. And this agreement is about such security guarantees that would make us protected. Russia also sets proposals or conditions, but the most important thing is that it is not an ultimatum as before, because at first they thought of occupying the country in three days. And they were – we see how they behave now. They were going to kill us all. And we did not allow them to do that. We protected our people, our country. Thus, such security guarantees in this agreement will give – will – Ukraine will receive a non-nuclear, non-bloc, neutral status. But at the same time, Ukraine will have accession to the European Union. So there are other conditions – so the economic conditions follow the values ​​of the European Union, which are very close to the Ukrainian people. So it’s …