The legendary Brazilian footballer Pele appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin, demanding to stop the military invasion of Ukraine.

The famous athlete posted a letter on his Instagram page before the 2022 World Cup qualifier between Ukraine and Scotland (3:1):.

" Getting to the World Cup is already a daunting task, which is almost impossible now with so many lives at stake..

I want to use today's match as an opportunity to make a request: stop the invasion.. There is absolutely no excuse for continuing this violence.. This conflict is disgusting, unjustified and brings nothing but pain, fear, horror and anguish.. There's no reason for this to continue.

When we met in the past and exchanged smiles followed by long handshakes, I never thought that one day we would be as divided as we are now.. Wars only exist to divide nations. There is no ideology that justifies the projectiles that bury the dreams of children, destroy families and kill the innocent..

I have lived through eight decades, I have seen wars, I have seen and heard hatspeech of invertebrate leaders promoting atrocities in the name of the security of their nation.. We have to stop this and evolve. A long time ago I promised myself that I would always stand for peace. You have the power in your hands to stop this conflict.. The same ones I had in Moscow during our last meeting in 2017"

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Recall that the national team of Ukraine in the final of the playoff selection for the 2022 World Cup will meet with Wales on June 5.