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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday invoked the 1941 assault on Pearl Harbor and the Sept. 11 terror strikes on America as he pleaded straight with the U.S. Congress to ship extra assist to his embattled nation to struggle against Russia’s invasion.
Zelenskyy, who was greeted with at the least three standing ovations from an viewers of lawmakers, requested the U.S. to implement a no-fly zone over Ukraine to stem the Russian assaults, which have led to the deaths of hundreds of individuals.
“It is a terror that Europe has not seen, has not seen for 80 years and we’re asking for a reply, for a solution to this terror from the entire world,” mentioned Zelenskyy, who throughout his speech performed a video exhibiting the bombing of Ukraine and wounded and lifeless civilians.
“Is that this loads to ask for, to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine to save lots of folks? Is that this an excessive amount of to ask?” he mentioned by way of video hyperlink from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
Zelenskyy acknowledged that Western leaders have resisted the concept of a no-fly zone, which might require NATO to take over the air and shoot down enemies to guard civilians on the bottom. It has been repeatedly rejected out of fears of triggering one other world struggle.
“If that is an excessive amount of to ask, we provide an alternate,” he mentioned.
That included extra weapons and humanitarian assist past what has already been granted to Ukraine, in addition to even harder sanctions on Russia and main Russian supporters of that nation’s president, Vladimir Putin, he mentioned.
“Consistently, each week, till the Russian navy machine stops, restrictions are wanted for everybody on whom this unjust regime is predicated,” Zelenskyy mentioned, referring to extra sanctions.
He additionally urged members of Congress to get firms of their legislative districts to depart the Russian market, “as a result of it’s flooded with our blood.”
“I name on you to do extra,” he mentioned.
Referring to President Joe Biden by title, Zelenskyy mentioned he needed his American counterpart to steer the world, not simply the U.S., within the face of Russian aggression.
“Being the chief of the world means to be the chief of peace,” Zelenskyy mentioned.
Biden is anticipated to announce a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in extra assist to Ukraine later Wednesday.
Zelenskyy was launched for his handle by Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
“Glory to heroes,” Pelosi mentioned in Ukrainian earlier than he started talking.
Zelenskyy started by saying, “I am proud to greet you from Ukraine from our capital metropolis … that’s beneath missile and airstrikes from Russian troops every single day, nevertheless it would not surrender.”
“And now we have not even considered it for a second. Similar to many different cities, and communities in our lovely nation, which discovered themselves within the worst struggle since World Struggle II,” he mentioned.
Zelenskyy quickly returned to that linkage with World Struggle II after noting what he known as America’s foundational tenets of “democracy, independence, freedom and care for everybody.”
“We in Ukraine need the identical for our folks,” he mentioned. “All that’s regular a part of your individual life.”
“Girls and gents, associates, People in your nice historical past, you will have pages that may let you perceive Ukrainians. Perceive us now, while you want it,” Zelenskyy mentioned.
“Proper now once we want you proper now. Bear in mind Pearl Harbor, [the] horrible morning of Dec. 7, 1941. When your sky was black from the planes attacking you,” he mentioned.
“Simply bear in mind … September the 11th. A horrible day in 2001 when [al-Qaeda suicide squads] will attempt to flip your cities, unbiased territories into battlefields. When harmless folks have been attacked,” he mentioned.
Simply because the U.S. couldn’t cease these assaults from the air on these days, Zelenskyy mentioned, “our nation experiences the identical, every single day, proper now.”
“Russia has turned the Ukrainian sky right into a supply of demise for hundreds of individuals,” he mentioned. “Russian troops have already fired almost a thousand missiles at Ukraine. Numerous bombs. They use drones to kill us with precision.”
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