Austrian-American actor Arnold Schwarzenegger has told the Russian forces in Ukraine that they were being sacrificed for a senseless war.
In a video message posted to his official Twitter page and addressed to his “dear Russian friends and the Russian soldiers serving in Ukraine,” the Hollywood legend told of how his father had fought in Leningrad during the Second World War and spent the rest of his life struggling with physical pain and guilt from what he experienced there.
Speaking about what he called “harsh realities,” the former Governor of California said the Russian government had lied to its people with regards to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
He said, “I know that your government has told you that this is a war to denazify Ukraine.
“Denazify Ukraine?
“This is not true. Ukraine is a country with a Jewish president, a Jewish president, I might add, whose father’s three brothers were all murdered by the Nazis.
“You see, Ukraine did not start this war.
“Neither did nationalists of Nazis.
“Those in power in the Kremlin started this war.”
Schwarzenegger also noted that it was not the Russian people’s war. He stated that 141 nations at the United Nations voted that Russia was the aggressor.
He emphasised that only four countries in the entire world voted with Russia, which was to prove that Russia was wrong.
“See, the world has turned against Russia because of its actions in Ukraine.
“Whole city blocks have been flattened by Russian artillery and bombs, including a children’s hospital and a maternity hospital,” the legend actor lamented.
Schwarzenegger also said the truth that thousands of Russian soldiers have already been killed in the war was not being told to the Russian people.
He said the regrettable deaths of these soldiers were part of the consequences of the war on Russia itself.
“They have been caught between Ukrainians fighting for their homeland and the Russian leadership fighting for conquest,” he said.
“Massive amounts of Russian equipment have been destroyed or abandoned.”
The 74-year-old actor noted that the strongest global economic sanctions ever taken had been imposed on Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine.
“Those who don’t deserve it, on both sides of the war, will suffer,” he stated.
Schwarzenegger said the Russian government had lied to its people and its soldiers.
He said that some of the soldiers believed they were going to war against Nazis, while some were told that the Ukrainian people would welcome them as heroes.
He added that some of the Russian soldiers did not know they were going into war but for some exercises tagged “special military operation.”
To the Russian soldiers, Schwarzenegger said, “You already know much of the truth that I am speaking. You have seen it with your own eyes.
“I don’t want you to be broken like my father.
“This is not the war to defend Russia that your grandfathers and your great grandfathers fought.
“This is an illegal war!
“Your lives, your limbs, your futures are being sacrificed for a senseless war condemned by the entire world.”
He also asked the leadership in power at the Kremlin why they were sacrificing the soldiers for their own ambitions.
He further reminded the soldiers that 11 million Russians had family connections in Ukraine, therefore, “every bullet you shoot, you shoot a brother or a sister.
“Every bomb or shell that falls is falling not on an enemy, but on a school or a hospital or a home.”
The actor called on Russians in Ukraine, including soldiers, to let their people at home understand the Kremlin’s propaganda, noting that the Russian government had prevented Russians at home from hearing and knowing the truth about the war.
He also told the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, “You started this war. You are leading this war. You can stop this war.”
He concluded by applauding the bravery of Russians who have been protesting against the war, calling them “my new heroes.”
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