Zelensky speaks to Russians about mobilization and survival in the war

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky switched to Russian during his video address on day 211 of the war, to speak to the Russian people about mobilization, announced by the Kremlin a day earlier.

Russia’s decision for mobilization is an admission that their professional army, trained for decades to capture what belongs to others, did not withstand and crumbled. Because of mobilization, for most Russian citizens, Russia’s war against Ukraine is no longer just something on TV, or online, but something that has come to every Russian home.

55,000 Russian soldiers have died in this war within half-a-year. Tens of thousands wounded, disabled. Do you really want more? You don’t? Then protest. Struggle. Flee. Or surrender to Ukraine. These are your options for survival.

What else Zelensky said

I’ll explain what’s going on, to Russians, and in Russian. Russian cities are protesting against mobilization. Not in mass, but there have been, and there are, protests. This is meaningful, and not just in Moscow or Petersburg. We know the real political mood in Russia’s regions. We can see that people in Dagestan, Buryatia, and other ethnic republics and regions of Russia realize that they have been sent to their death, and abandoned.

Why, for example, should someone from Dagestan, or anybody else, have to die somewhere by Kharkiv or Donetsk? Just because one man in Russia decided this for all other citizens. There is no other reason. This is what he wants. And you have already become accomplices in these crimes, in killing and torturing Ukrainian people. Because you kept silent. And because you keep silent. But now is the time for you to make some choices.

For Russia’s men, the choice will be: will I live or die, lose a limb or keep my health. For Russia’s women, the choice will be: will I lose forever my husband, my son, my grandson — or shall I try to protect them from death, from war, from one particular man. Just think about the number of people they want to take away. We know for certain that summons for 300,000 were printed and signed in advance of this decision for mobilization. This was proven by our intelligence.

But Russia’s leadership is getting ready to draft up to a million men into the army. This is the big thing that they keep to themselves. We know that they will draft indiscriminately, and not just from the reserve — but men in general, anyone they can scare so badly that he’ll be more afraid to evade the war than to die in it.

55,000 Russian soldiers have died in this war within half-a-year. Tens of thousands wounded, disabled. Do you really want more? You don’t? Then protest. Struggle. Flee. Or surrender to Ukraine. These are your options for survival.

Russian mothers, have no doubt that the top of your state leadership will not send their children to the front. Those who make the decisions in your country protect their own children — but cannot be bothered to give your children as much as a burial.

• As part of the mobilization announced on September 21, Russia’s Defense Ministry made known its plans to draft 300,000 new troops from the current army reserve. A classified paragraph in the presidential mobilization decree may, according to some sources, specify a different number of new recruits — namely, up to a million. The official Kremlin denies this information.