Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered an astonishing late-night address on Wednesday, speaking in Russian to make a direct and desperate plea for peace to Russian citizens. Hours after the Pentagon warned that Russian troops could invade Ukraine at “any hour,” Zelensky declared: “Hear us. The Ukrainian people want peace. The Ukrainian authorities want peace.” Speaking in Russian for around nine minutes, Zelensky claimed he had initiated a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin but was ghosted. “The result was silence. Although it’s the Donbas where there should be silence,” he said. Zelensky delivered an emergency address just a night earlier after Russia said that it would recognize two separatist regions in east Ukraine. Zelensky added on Wednesday that the two nations were at a critical juncture as Russian troops line up at the border. “This step could be the start of a big war on the European continent,” he said, warning that “any provocation—any flare-up” could “burn everything.”
