In an address uploaded on his official Facebook account in the early hours of Thursday local time, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky stated he tried to phone Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday but was unsuccessful.

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“Today I initiated a telephone conversation with the President of the Russian Federation. Silence. Although there should be silence in the Donbas,” Zelensky said.

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“I want to address all the Russian citizens. Not as a President. I address Russian citizens as a citizen of Ukraine,” Zelensky said in the same address. “There are over 2000 km of common border between us. Your army is along that border now. Almost 200,000 soldiers. Thousands of military vehicles.”

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Zelensky added, “Your leadership approved for them to take a step further, to the territory of another country.”

“This step can become the beginning of a great war on the European continent,” he concluded.