Arnold Schwarzenegger, the action movie superstar turned Republican governor of California, released a video on Thursday via Attn, a digital outlet, directly addressing the Russian people, telling them “your lives, your limbs, and your futures are being sacrificed for a senseless war condemned by the entire world.” (Watch above)

“I am speaking to you today because there are things that are going on… that are being kept from you, terrible things that you should know about,” Schwarzenegger said.

https://twitter.com/Schwarzenegger/status/1504426844199669762

He described his deep affection for Russian culture, which was cemented by a boyhood encounter with bodybuilding icon Yury Petrovich Vlasov. A teenage Schwarzenegger kept a photo of Vlasov above his bed, which enraged his dad, who served in the German military during WWII and was injured in a battle with Russian soldiers.

But Schwarzenegger said he always admired Russians and that’s why he felt compelled to level with them.

“Ukraine did not start this war. Neither did nationalists or Nazis,” he said. “Those in power in the Kremlin started this war. This is not the Russian people’s war.”

Schwarzenegger underscored the fact that millions of Russians have family in Ukraine. “So every bullet you shoot,” he said “you shoot a brother or a sister. Every bomb or every shell that falls is falling not on an enemy but on a school or hospital or a home.”

“To the Russian soldiers listening to this broadcast, you already know much of the truth that I’ve been speaking. You have seen it with your own eyes. I don’t want you to be broken like my father,” he said. “This is not the war to defend Russia that your grandfathers or great-grandfathers fought. This is an illegal war.”

Schwarzenegger also directly challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling the strongman “You started this war. You are leading this war. You can stop this war.”

He also praised Russian anti-war protesters, calling them “the true heart of Russia.”