Oleksandr Vilkul received an offer to betray Ukraine on the second day of the Russian invasion. “Former colleague” called the politician when Russian troops advanced to Krivoy Rog.

“He said: Alexander Yuryevich, look at the map, you see, the situation has already been determined. Sign an agreement on friendship, cooperation and defense with Russia. And you will have a good relationship with them. You will become an influential person in the new Ukraine,” he recalled a conversation with one of the former ministers of the pro-Russian regime of Viktor Yanukovych.

But, according to the New York Times, Vilkul responded to such an offer with “scoldling”. According to him, the gray zone in Ukrainian politics has completely disappeared.. Rocket attacks on Krivoy Rog convinced him that the only option available was to fight back..

If the first months of the war against Ukraine were a complete disaster for the Russian army, the Russian invasion as a whole exposed another big failure: Moscow misjudged the political space of the country it attacked.. This miscalculation cost the lives of Russian soldiers no less than the ill-conceived tactics of the tankers, whose combat vehicles got stuck in the swamps..

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The Kremlin entered the war with the expectation of winning a quick and painless victory, expecting the government of Vladimir Zelensky to fall apart.. And officials from predominantly Russian-speaking regions will gladly replace him.. But that did not happen. Political analysts say that political blindness crawled out sideways to Moscow in the eastern regions of Ukraine. With the exception of a few small villages, Russia has not been able to win over local politicians to its side.. Law enforcement agencies of Ukraine opened 38 cases of high treason. And they all concern special cases of betrayal of low-level officials..

“Nobody wants to be part of that thing behind the wall,” Konstantin Usov, a former Krivoy Rog MP, told the publication, referring to Russia’s isolated authoritarian system..

He explained that this Russian system does not seem attractive to anyone in Ukraine, including those Ukrainians who speak Russian..

" It is here with us in our camp. And they have nothing to offer,” he added..

Other notable politicians previously considered pro-Russian are Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov and Odessa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov.. They both remained loyal to Ukraine and became ardent defenders of their cities.. Just like the leaders in the southeast of the country, ordinary Ukrainians are also fighting. Street protests in occupied Kherson continue despite deadly threat. One man opposed a Russian tank. Krivoy Rog miners showed no sign of Russian commitment.

“Before the start of the war, we had ties with Russia. But that's in the past. No one doubts that Russia attacked us,” said Sergei Zhigalov, a 36-year-old steel plant engineer..

The New York Times writes that the south and east of Ukraine are strongly woven into Soviet and Russian history.. The metallurgical and coal industries have become decisive for these regions. There are large deposits of iron ore in Krivoy Rog and around the city. And in the region closer to Donetsk there are many coal mines. Kryvbas and Donbass spawned a metallurgical industry that attracted people of different nationalities both during the Russian Empire and the Soviet period. The Russian language has spread in cities as the language of international communication. Although the villages mostly remained Ukrainian-speaking. Regions have been electing pro-Russian politicians like Vilkul for years to promote Soviet holidays and culture, irritating many Ukrainians.. For example, in Krivoy Rog, he staged a loud celebration of Victory Day in the Soviet style to the Russian song " More importantly, Vilkul entered politics on the team of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.. He served as vice prime minister in a pro-Russian government until street protests toppled the regime in 2014..

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Most members of Yanukovych's cabinet fled with him to Russia. But Vilkul remained in Ukraine, being a powerful politician in Krivoy Rog, where his father served as mayor of the city.. Moscow drew attention to him. On the day the war began, he was one of the most popular pro-Russian politicians.. Therefore, he was soon called by the former Minister of Internal Affairs of the Yanukovych era, Vitaly Zakharchenko, who had fled to Russia.. He convinced Vilkul that he was better off cooperating with the Russians. But the politician assures that he did not even consider such a possibility..

Vilkul is convinced that he was misunderstood by both Russia and nationalists in Ukraine.

He told the New York Times that his great-grandfather once fought the Russian White Guards at the beginning of the last century.. According to Vilkul, his family " He added that the Kremlin confused his respect for World War II veterans and support for Russian speakers in the country with potential support for the restoration of the Russian Empire.. He is convinced that Russia suffers from "

“They mistakenly decided that a common language and values, such as an approach to World War II and Orthodoxy, is a sign that someone here loves them,” Vilkul said..