Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyyinvoked Winston Churchill in his latest addressto rally his country and its defendersduring a virtual address to the British Parliament on Tuesday.
Since Russia invaded its neighbor on Feb. 24, Zelenskyy has urged other European nations and the West to come to Ukraine’s aid. The large-scale Russian offensive has already killed hundreds and sent millions fleeing, including children.
He spoke to U.K. lawmakers on Tuesday from Kyiv as well, despite the mounting threats.
“We will not give up and will not lose. We will fight till the end, at sea, in the air,” Zelenskyy said. “We will continue fighting for our land whatever the cost. We will fight in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets.”
He continued “I would like to add that we will fight on the banks of different rivers like the Dnieper, and we are looking for your help, for the help of the civilized countries.”
Turning to the devastating effects that the Russian invasion has already had on his people, Zelenskyy confirmed that more than 50 children have so far been killed in the city of Mariupol following 13 days of siege.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.Presidency of Ukraine/Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty
“These are the children that could have lived but these people have taken them away from us,” he said.
“We do not want to lose what we have, what is ours, our country Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in his speech. “Just the same way you once didn’t want to lose your country when Nazis started to fight your country.”
He also called for Russia to be designated as a “terrorist state.”
His remarks came three daysafter he joined a video callwith more than 280 U.S. lawmakers to make an impassioned plea for military aircraft and support and an embargo on Russian oil.
On Monday, Zelenskyy also repeated his call for a NATO-enforced “no-fly zone” over Ukraine,telling ABC News anchor David Muirthat he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin would not stop his tanks at the Ukrainian border.
“Many things depend not just on us,” Zelenskyy told Muir. “Today, the war is here. Tomorrow, it will be in Lithuania, then in Poland, then in Germany. This is serious.”
“You have to preserve lives,” he added. “We will come first, you will come second, because the more this beast will eat, he wants more, more and more.”
However, many in NATO view a no-fly zone as a de facto escalation with Russia that would risk expanding the war to more of the continent — if not the world. Ukraine is not a member of the European alliance, which Russian has long viewed as a threat.
NATO countries, including the U.S. and the U.K., have pledged support in other ways and enacted economic sanctions on Russia while not committing their forces.
Irpin, Ukraine.ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty
In response to Zelenskyy’s address to Parliament on Tuesday, British Prime MinisterBoris Johnsonstopped short of agreeing to implement a no-fly zone but did state that the U.K. would stop buying Russian oil and continue to “press on” with supplying Ukraine with military and humanitarian aid “until Vladimir Putin has failed in this disastrous venture and Ukraine is free once more.”
“The question for us now is ‘to be, or not to be,’ " Zelenskyy said. “For 15 days this question could have been asked. But now I can give you a definitive answer. It’s definitely, ‘Yes. To Be.’ "
source: people.com
