Guardian
8m ago 23:49 Zelenskiy makes national address, says Russia has approved offensive against Ukraine
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has just given a 10-minute national address to his country in the early hours of Thursday morning, local time.
Zelenskiy said Russia had approved an offensive against Ukraine and said Russian president Vladimir Putin had not replied to his invitation to hold talks, Reuters reports, citing the address in which he spoke in both Ukrainian and Russian.
He also warned that any flare-up from Russia could “burn everything” and create a catastrophic crisis.
Speaking in Russian, he called on Russians to not believe the narratives about Ukraine being presented on Russian state television.
I initiated a telephone call with the president of the Russian Federation. Result: silence.
This step could be the start of a big war on the European continent. The whole world is talking about what could happen any day now.
Any provocation. Any flare-up – one that could burn everything.”
The address has since been posted on Telegram.