A defiant Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy early Tuesday gave Russian troops a "chance to survive" and urged them to surrender.

Zelenskyy, speaking during his nightly address, said "the enemy is confused" and did not anticipate Ukraine's tough resistance.

"Their soldiers know this. Their officers are aware of this. They flee the battlefield. They abandon equipment," Zelenskyy said, Fox News reported.

"We take trophies and use them to protect Ukraine. Today, Russian troops are, in fact, one of the suppliers of equipment to our army. They could not imagine such a thing in a nightmare."

Zelenskyy then spoke to the Russian soldiers.

"Russian conscripts! Listen to me very carefully," Zelenskyy said. "Russian officers! You’ve already understood everything. You will not take anything from Ukraine. You will take lives. There are a lot of you. But your life will also be taken. But why should you die? What for? I know that you want to survive.

"Therefore, I offer you a choice. On behalf of the Ukrainian people, I give you a chance. Chance to survive."

The Ukrainian president said his people would treat captured Russians "decently."

"If you surrender to our forces, we will treat you the way people are supposed to be treated. As people, decently. In a way you were not treated in your army. And in a way your army does not treat ours," he said. "Choose!"

Citing a woman who disrupted Russian state television broadcaster Channel to protest the war, Zelenskyy commended Russians "who do not stop trying to convey the truth."

"As long as your country has not completely closed itself off from the whole world, turning into a very large North Korea, you must fight," he said. "You must not lose your chance."

The president also predicted victory against President Vladimir Putin's forces.

"The 19th day of our resistance is over," Zelenskyy said, Fox News reported. "Historical war. Another difficult day, which is still approaching our victory. Approaching peace for Ukraine."

Zelenskyy also promised that Russian military leaders will be held responsible for war crimes.

"Responsibility for war crimes of the Russian military is inevitable," he said. "Responsibility for a deliberate humanitarian catastrophe in Ukrainian cities is inevitable. The whole world sees what is happening in Mariupol. Kharkiv. Chernihiv. Sumy. Okhtyrka. Hostomel. Irpin. In all our cities."

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