German news translator bursts into tears while reporting Ukrainian president Zelensky’s speech

In an emotional video, a translator can be heard struggling to translate Zelensky’s message

A journalist at a German news channel broke down in tears while translating Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s speech on Sunday.

In an emotional video shared on social media, the translator can be heard struggling to continue her voiceover for the German media outlet Welt.

She managed to translate some of Mr Zelensky’s words, saying: “Russia is on the path of evil, Russia must loose its voice in the UN.”

She then continued: “Ukraine, we definitely know..” before having to pause. She managed to say: “what we are defending”, before her voice broke.

The translator can then be heard taking a breath in to try and calm herself, before saying “sorry”.

Mr Zelensky was addressing the Ukrainian people on Sunday morning after major cities in the country came under sustained attack from Russian forces.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky (AFP)

“The night was hard,” he said in the video message. “The people rose to defend their state and they showed their true faces. This is terror.

“They are going to bomb our Ukrainian cities even more. They are going to kill our children even more insidiously. This is an evil that has come to our land and must be destroyed.”

Mr Zelensky continued to detail calls he had had with various world leaders including in the Netherlands, Poland and the UK. He said that diplomacy had convinced the EU to cut Russia off from the Swift payments system shift, and listed the new military aid that Germany had committed to send to Ukraine.

“Russia’s criminal actions against Ukraine show signs of genocide,” he added. “I talked about this with the UN secretary general. Russia is on the path of evil.

“The world must deprive Russia the right to vote in the UN Security Councils.”

President Zelensky then slowed down to deliver his conclusion, saying with pointed determination: “Ukrainians. We know exactly what we are defending. We will definitely win. Glory to each of our soldiers. Glory to Ukraine.”