The leadership of the partner countries has been notified of this proposal by Ukraine.

Destroyed Russian military equipment in Kharkov / photo REUTERS

Ukraine called on the Russian and Belarusian military not to carry out criminal orders to seize the territories of Ukraine.

As an UNIAN correspondent reports, Aleksey Arestovich, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, voiced the corresponding appeal at a briefing.

“Dear soldiers of the Russian Federation and Belarus, do not follow criminal orders. During the campaign, which you can track, it is perfectly clear that another day or two, and you will drown in the offensive,” Arestovich emphasized.

“The command uses you like meat. Otherwise, it is impossible to explain the movement of lightly armored vehicles to large cities with very serious defenses, like Kyiv and Kharkov, and which are bellowed in an hour. The entire Internet is full of the deaths of your comrades in arms. And I think that you understand perfectly that even if each of you personally survives, which is unlikely, this last battle that you are trying to give in the area of ​​​​Kharkov and Kyiv will lead to nothing but death,” Arestovich said in an appeal.

He stated that many of the Russian troops are already communicating with local residents, trying to negotiate, many have surrendered.

“But I want to emphasize one important thing – we do not consider this captivity. We do not consider your surrender and transition to our side to be something shameful. It seems to me that you are thereby preserving your military honor. Moreover, you are making a serious choice in life refusing an aggressive war that does not paint either the Russian Federation – a great state with a great people and a great culture, or Belarus – our good neighbors with a great culture and whom we consider to be our historical people,” the adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine said.

He urged to lay down arms or refuse to carry out criminal orders and noted that the leadership of the partner countries was notified of this proposal by Ukraine.

“Those of you who come over to our side will be given appropriate guarantees. At least, preliminary negotiations are underway on this,” Arestovich said.

According to him, such an act would be a courageous act of a person who, at a historic moment for the whole world, found the strength to make a personal choice, and not be “an empty puppet in the service of a half-mad dictator.”

“You don’t have to go over to our side, don’t surrender. Just block the execution of criminal orders. As a military man, you know perfectly well that there are a million ways to disobey an order – get lost, break down, the radio station does not work, etc. We believe in you and count on your courage, honor and prudence,” Arestovich said.

(C)UNIAN 2022