Ukraine crisis and a phone call that ended in silence

“If we are attacked, if someone attempts to take away our land, our freedom, our lives, the lives of our children, we will defend ourselves,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said.  

Amid fears of an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine loom, President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that tens of thousands of people could die in a conflict with Russia, as he vowed his country would defend itself against any invasion.

President Zelensky said early Thursday morning his request to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin went unanswered by the Kremlin, part of a speech in which Zelensky pleaded with the Russian public for peace and urged Russia to avoid war “before it is too late.”

“The Ukrainian people want peace,” Zelensky said. “The government in Ukraine wants peace and is doing everything it can to build it,” he further said in an address from Kyiv after midnight Thursday, The New York Times reported. 

Zelensky made an appeal directly to the Russian people, saying there was no grievance with Moscow while countering how his country's image may be portrayed by Russian media.

“Any spark,” Zelensky added, “could burn everything down. You are told that this flame will liberate the people of Ukraine, but the Ukrainian people are free.”

After weeks of questioning Western intelligence reports that suggested Putin was planning a large-scale invasion of Ukraine, Zelensky and his officials have shifted in recent days to preparing for war.

The 30-day state of emergency will see additional police deployed into the streets and around critical infrastructure, as well as giving them powers to stop people and demand to see their documents. The measures were approved by parliament, which is controlled by Mr. Zelensky’s party, and are expected to come into force Thursday.

Meanwhile, Putin had made clear that Russia’s goal is to destroy or at least fundamentally alter the Ukrainian state. Earlier this week, he recognized the independence of two breakaway regions of southeastern Ukraine – and sent columns of Russian troops into those areas – while questioning whether Ukraine should exist as an entity separate from Russia.

Zelensky added he tried to call Putin but got no response, the Times noted.

Also watch: Explained: Vladimir Putin's brinksmanship over Luhansk and Donetsk

Zelensky rebutted Putin’s message to the Russian public that an invasion would liberate the Ukrainian people, stating they are already free and wish to coexist independently from Russia: “Neighbours always enrich each other culturally,” he said, adding, “that doesn’t make them a single whole.”

“You are told we are Nazis,” Zelensky, who has a Jewish background, said. “But can a people support Nazis that gave more than eight million lives for the victory over Nazism? How can I be a Nazi? Tell my grandpa, who went through the whole war in the infantry of the Soviet Army and died as a colonel in independent Ukraine.”