By JOHN DANISZEWSKIIn these frames from Feb. 24, 2022, videos, Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, speaks in Moscow and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks in Kyiv. As missiles and a sense of tragedy rained down on the great European plain early Thursday, the eve-of-war remarks of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin showed the starkly opposing poles of this conflict. He was pleading in a dignified way over Putin's head to the Russian people in their own Russian language: please stop this madness. Ironically, the forum created after World War II to resolve such threats of conflict, the U.N. Security Council, is currently chaired by Russia, one of the five permanent members that has veto power over any actions. Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia insisted that what was happening was not a war, bur a “special military operation."

Source: Libya Today February 24, 2022 22:03 UTC