Zelenskiy drops two more videos this morning. I will translate key bits of the first. It is in Russian, and he speaks directly to Belarusians who are voting today in a "referendum" on allowing Russia to host nuclear weapons on their land. 1/?foreignpolicy.com/2022/02/26/bel…
"My words are addressed to the citizens of Belarus. You've been called today to the ballot box to vote in a referendum. This could've looked like a normal political process, but now clearly there's nothing normal. Now, decisions are being taken on a very different level." 2/?
"The past night in Ukraine was cruel. Again, shootings, again bombing of civilian areas, civilian infrastructure ... [invading forces] are fighting against everyone. They are fighting against everything living. Against kindergartens. Against homes. Even against ambulances" 3/?
"Rockets are hitting suburbs where there isn't and never was any military infrastructure ... many cities around Ukraine are living in circumstances that last time existed, on our land and on your land, existed during the second world war." 4/?
"But the war that's currently being waged, you're not on our side. From your territory, troops of the Russian Federation are sending rockets. From your territory, our children are being killed, our houses are being destroyed." 5
"They're trying to blow up everything that has been built over decades, and by the way not just by us but by our fathers and grandfathers. This is also a de-facto referendum for you, Belarus. You are deciding who you are. You are deciding who you will be." 6/
"How will you look into your children's eyes, into each other's eyes? How will you look into the eyes of your neighbors? And we are your neighbors. We are your neighbors. We are Ukrainians. Be Belarus, not Russia. That choice you make right now. Today," Zelenskiy says 7/
"There's a lot of stories in the news right now about talks between Ukraine and Russia, that could end this war and return peace to us all. In this, your capital is often mentioned, Minsk. Like the playground for these talks, a playground we didn't choose, and in fact, not you."8
"It was chosen by the government of Russia. And again there's a suggestion to meet at yours. 4 days ago exactly from Belarus is where the rockets started coming from, the winged rockets, the planes, the helicopters artillery, hitting our houses, hitting our lives." 9
"Then came the heavy artillery ... Kyiv was attacked at 4 in the morning. 4 in the morning. Who has that sense of humor? Like in 1941? And you slept, Brothers Belarus," Zelenskiy says, choking up:"And we woke up. But you are still sleeping." 10/?
"But we from this moment can no longer go to bed. Because we are fighting. We are fighting for our country. We are fighting for our freedom. Because we have the complete right to this." 11
"If it wasn't from your territory that aggressive actions were happening, we could talk in Minsk. In your city. When you were neutral, we talked in Minsk, we met there many times. That was right, that was honest, that was neighborly to talk like that," Zelenskiy continues. 12
"Right now, you still haven't made your main choice. That's ahead of you, and it should depend only on you. Not on Russia, not on Ukraine, not on America, but on the people of Belarus," he says. 13
"We want peace, we want to meet, we want the end of the war. Warsaw, Bratislava, Budapest, Istanbul, Baku we proposed all these to the Russian side. And any other city works for us. In a country where rockets aren't flying at us from its territory," Zelenskiy says. 14
"Only that way can the talks be fair, and can actually end the war. I genuinely wish Belarus would become once again that same safe Belarus that everyone saw not that long ago. Make the right choice. I am sure this is the most important vote of your great people." 15/15
Watch here: t.me/OP_UA/5728
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