Former adviser to the Head of the Presidential Office, Arestovych, explained why he praised Zelensky and spoke about ending the war in Ukraine within 2–3 weeks

Former advisor to the Office of the President of Ukraine, Oleksiy Arestovych, explained why he once “praised” Volodymyr Zelensky but now criticizes him harshly — and where the predictions that “the war would end in 2–3 weeks” came from.

Arestovych made these comments in an interview with Ukrainian journalist Oleksandr Shelest.

“I can still repeat the same words. Yes, he (Zelensky) has guts; yes, he has stubbornness; he has chutzpah. That allows him to openly insult Trump in the Oval Office, run a media campaign against him, buy influence through USAID, launch an anti-Trump campaign, and position him against Russia — including absolutely unchecked behavior inside the country. So what?” the former advisor said.

According to Arestovych, in the early months of the 2022 Russian invasion, the world treated Ukrainians “like gods,”and Zelensky received standing ovations in parliaments across the globe — “people even kissed his hands.”

Responding to the question of why he claimed at the time that Russia was “running out of missiles,” Arestovych explained that he was relying on Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) data:

“I was conducting public communications on behalf of the authorities. I couldn’t contradict HUR data because the central message had to be unified.”

He also addressed his now-famous spring 2022 prediction that the war would “end in two to three weeks.” According to him, that was based on the context of ongoing peace talks at the time:

“The Russians were doing everything to end the war. A meeting between Zelensky and Putin was planned for April 9. A memorandum had been signed on March 29, if I remember correctly. So, the famous ‘two to three weeks’ came from knowing when the end of the war and peace agreement was expected.”

However, he added, “We couldn’t say directly that the war was ending — that would have disrupted the negotiations. But the logic was clear: the war was moving toward a conclusion.”

Earlier, Arestovych had also said that Ukraine should be prepared to accept the loss of four regions in order to achieve peace.