Ukraine President Zelensky's Speech

Ukraine's President Zelenskyy gave a speech today, starting out in Ukrainian and then switching to Russian to address the people of Russia.  You can read a translation of the whole speech at Lawfareblog. 

Below is part of the speech after he switched to Russian:

" . . . [Zelenskyy switches from Ukrainian to Russian.] And further in Russian. Today, I initiated a phone call with the president of the Russian Federation. The result was silence. Although there should really be silence in the Donbas.

This is why I want to appeal today to all the citizens of Russia. Not as president. I am appealing to Russian citizens as a citizen of Ukraine. 

We are separated by more than 2,000 kilometers of a shared border. Today, your forces stand along that border, almost 200,000 soldiers and thousands of military vehicles. Your leadership approved their step forward into the territory of another country. And this step could become the beginning of a large war on the European continent. 

Today, the whole world talks about what could happen any day now. A reason could arise at any moment. Any provocation. Any spark. A spark, which could burn down everything. You are told that this flame will bring liberation to the people of Ukraine. But the Ukrainian people are free. We remember our past, and we are building our future ourselves. Building, not destroying, as you are told every day on the television. Ukraine in your news and Ukraine in real life are two completely different countries. And the main difference is that ours is real. 

You are told that we are Nazis. But how can a people who gave more than eight million lives for the victory over Nazism support Nazism? How could I be a Nazi? Tell that to my grandfather, who went through the entire war in the infantry of the Soviet Army and died as a colonel in independent Ukraine.

You are told that we hate Russian culture. How is it possible to hate culture? Any culture? Neighbors always enrich one another culturally. However, this does not make them a single entity. This does not dissolve us in you. We are different. But this is not a reason to be enemies.

We want to define and build our history ourselves. Peacefully. Calmly. Honestly.

You are told that I will order an attack on the Donbas, to shoot and bomb without questions. Although there are questions, and very simple ones. Shoot at whom? Bomb what? Donetsk, where I have been dozens of times? Where I have seen people’s eyes and faces? Artyom street, where I walked with friends? Donbas Arena, where I rooted with the locals for our Ukrainian guys at the Euro [the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship]? Sherbakova Park, where we drank together when our guys lost? Luhansk? The home where my best friend’s mother lives? The place where my best friend’s father is buried? 

Note that I am speaking right now in Russian, but no one in Russia knows what I am speaking about. These names, these streets, these last names, these events—this is all alien to you. Unfamiliar. This is our land. This is our history. What will you fight for? And with whom?. . . "

Before becoming president of Ukraine, Zelinsky was a comedian who starred in a television show, Servant of the People, about a high school teacher who gets elected president of Ukraine.  It was on Netflix when he first became president, but I can't find it there now.  Here's a You Tube preview of Season 2:

Here's a blog post I did on Zelensky in 2019.