It’s been exactly a month since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, and today one of Ukraine’s best-known rockstars joins the war effort.

Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, the leader of Ukrainian rock band Okean Elzy, spoke with rolling stone his perspective on the invasion as a musician and Ukrainian citizen. As a musician, Vakarchuk has touched countless people through international tours and several studio albums. As a Ukrainian citizen, Vakarchuk was briefly a deputy in the Ukrainian parliament and then focused on the political side of his music.

Now Vakarchuk has joined the army to defend Ukraine against Russian troops. He also calls for support for Ukraine from other countries. Read an excerpt from his statement below and read Vakarchuk’s full interview with Rolling Stone HERE.

“There are three messages that I am ready to share with the international public. The first is a military message: We need your help to stop the Russians. We need missile defense systems. We need planes. We need a no-fly zone over Ukraine, but at least the first two things if you’re not ready to do the third. There is a general opinion in the West that if you help us too much, it will incite Putin to start World War III. The truth is that the Third World War has already been started by Putin, and now Ukraine is only a vanguard of this war.

“The second message is an economic message: punish Russia as hard as possible, not because we want its people to suffer, but we want its people to stop Putin. And that’s why we’re telling big companies like Citigroup and other big US and international companies to stop doing business with Russia. You are just helping them earn money. You pay them taxes, then they buy tanks and planes, which kill our children.

“The third thing, and probably the most relevant to our conversation, is spiritual support. We are so happy that the whole world, including well-known personalities in the United States and other countries, are supporting us. We encourage you to create songs, make art, create fundraisers, just to spread the word about Ukraine.

Photo by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images