Zelensky says repeating his requests to world leaders makes him 'feel like Bill Murray' in Groundhog Day

Volodymyr Zelensky.
(Image credit: UKRINFORM/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

Like anyone in his position would be, Volodymyr Zelensky is tired of repeating himself.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Atlantic, the Ukrainian president lamented the repetitive nature of his many telephone, Zoom, and Skype calls with world leaders, who are often asking him the same questions about the ongoing Russian invasion.

"I like new questions," Zelensky told The Atlantic. "It's not interesting to answer the questions you already heard."

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"When some leaders ask me what weapons I need, I need a moment to calm myself, because I already told them the week before," Zelensky continued. "It's Groundhog Day. I feel like Bill Murray."

Still, even when it seems he's living the same moment over and over, "[h]e says he has no choice but to keep trying," the Atlantic writes.

The world's leaders "are not against us," Zelensky said. "They just live in a different situation. As long as they have not lost their parents and children, they do not feel the way we feel."

Take the conversations he's had with soldiers in the decimated city of Mariupol, where 21,000 civilians have been killed so far, for example, the Atlantic writes.

"They say, 'We need help; we have four hours.' And even in Kyiv we don't understand what four hours are," Zelensky said. "In [Washington, D.C.] for sure they can't understand. However, we are grateful to the U.S., because the planes with weapons are still coming." Read more at The Atlantic.

Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.