This is how the Russian people pronounce themselves 1:52
(CNN) --
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected Russia's accusations that Ukrainians are neo-Nazis and hate Russian culture.
"It is said that we are Nazis. How can a nation that gave 8 million lives to fight it support Nazism? How can I be a Nazi? Tell my grandfather," Zelensky said during a speech published on his official account. on Facebook first thing Thursday local time.
"He was, throughout the war, in the infantry of the Soviet Army and died as a colonel in the independent Ukraine."
"They tell you that we hate Russian culture? How can anyone hate culture? Any culture? Neighbors are always culturally enriched, but that doesn't make them one, it doesn't dissolve us into you," the president continued. ukrainian
"We are different. But it is not a reason to be enemies."
Zelensky concluded: "We want to determine our history for ourselves. Peacefully, calmly and honestly."
Zelensky's remarks came before Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an unscheduled televised address filled with false claims about the genocide perpetrated against ethnic Russians in the eastern regions of Ukraine, declared an operation to "demilitarize and denazify Ukraine".
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War Russia - Ukraine: last minute and news to the attack and invasion live
And, before that, Putin had already announced a special military operation, with which the attack on Ukraine began.
This is how the Ukrainians live the invasion 1:27
Kremlin spokesman echoes Putin's baseless claims about invasion
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says the "demilitarization and denazification" of Ukraine are among the goals of Russian military action in the country, which he described as a "special operation."
"The ideal thing would be to liberate Ukraine, cleanse it of Nazis, pro-Nazi people and ideology," Peskov said, declining to say whether that meant regime change in Kyiv.
This Russian assertion of the need to "denazify" Ukraine is something that Putin has repeatedly trumpeted over the years and is completely unfounded.
Peskov also said that the operation would only end when its objectives have been achieved.
"The operation has its objectives, they must be achieved. The president said that all decisions have been made and all objectives will be achieved," Peskov said.
"Everything depends on the decision of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief [President Putin]."
Putin announced his decision to "carry out a special military operation" in a surprise speech overnight.
During that speech, he said it was "to protect people who have been subjected to abuse and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years," reiterating an unfounded claim about the Russian separatist-backed Donbas region of Ukraine.
The invasion began soon after with a series of missile attacks on towns near Kyiv, as well as the use of long-range artillery on the northeastern city of Kharkiv, near the Russian border.
With information from Stephen Collinson
Conflict Russia - UkraineWar in UkraineNews from Russia
