Ukraine’s FM reveals he spent 18 months in underground bunker with Zelenskyy

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii has said he spent about a year and a half living alongside President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an underground bunker following the outbreak of the war.

“I was with the President of Ukraine in the bunker from the very first moments after the conflict began, and I lived there for a year and a half,” the foreign minister said in an interview with Kazakhstani news outlet Ulysmedia on September 4.

Sybiha‎ said the shelter was located approximately 100 metres underground, but did not disclose its exact location.

His comments come amid continued reports about the use of heavily fortified underground facilities by Ukrainian officials during periods of intense Russian attacks on Kyiv.

In August, reports suggested that Zelenskyy may have taken shelter in an underground facility approximately 93 metres below ground during a major Russian strike on the Ukrainian capital.

The facility was identified in those reports as the ChZ-417 shelter, a Soviet-era underground complex. According to the reports, the facility is equipped with life-support systems, communications infrastructure, water and electricity, while its entrances are guarded around the clock.

By Sabina Mammadli