While the Russia-Ukraine war continues on its 22nd day, diplomatic initiatives have not yet yielded results on the ceasefire. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, addressing many countries via videoconference, called for Russia’s attacks to be stopped. Finally, Zelenskiy, speaking to the German Parliament, said that Russia was attacking without targeting. Here are the highlights from Zelensky’s speech…
“THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE DIE IN 3 WEEKS”
They attack here with missiles. Many Ukrainians died, thousands died within 3 weeks. The invaders killed 180 children. It happened right here in the middle of Europe. I am calling out to you for support after many meetings, opinions and requests. Some of these show that it is too late after the sanctions. We couldn’t stop the war. We have now seen how connected your companies are with Russia.
“THIS IS NOT THE BERLIN WALL BUT…”
This state is using you and using other countries. The goal is to raise funds for the war. The 3 weeks of the war are over, and in these 3 weeks we realized what we saw in the past and what we didn’t notice. We are behind a wall now. This is not the Berlin wall, but we are behind a very strong wall. Every decision taken towards peace will help us. When will this happen? Dear German people…
EU MEMBERSHIP REACTION
We do not seem to be able to have such a decision on the table in the near future. At the same time, you are postponing your membership decision. You think this is politics, but these are the stones that will actually contribute to the new wall. I want to address you directly now. The attacker understood this. You are strong. You say economic sanctions and you talk about the economy all the time. And now new stones are being added to the wall dividing Europe. This wall is being built between us and the people of Europe. Not everyone feels deeply what we’re going through.
“Continues 24/7”
I am addressing you now on behalf of the citizens of Mouripol. This city is currently under siege by Russian forces and they are razing the city to the ground. It kills thousands of people. And 24/7 this continues.
“THAT’S EVERYTHING”
People do not have access to food, water, electricity. It was like this all week. Russian forces continue their attacks without making any distinction between civilians and soldiers. They target everything and everyone. The attacks continued again yesterday and they targeted a place where there were hundreds of people, targeting the delivery room and causing the death of everyone. They do not allow humanitarian aid to enter the city. They do not allow us to protect our citizens. If you go beyond this wall, you will see exactly this happening.
“WE DON’T WANT TO BE A SATELLITE OF ANOTHER COUNTRY”
An air bridge could be created here. Now we only buy planes and missiles so that our people are not killed. I want to address those who have lived through the second world war. The building where the German leader visited us last year was the target of Russian missiles. 80 years after World War II, politicians should not allow such a war again. They don’t want to understand why we are doing this, our soldiers defending our country, they are fighting for us to live in a free country. We do not want to be a satellite of another country. You don’t see this. Even if you don’t understand, we are waging the war to protect our country.
We are grateful to those who deprived Russia of financial markets. I want to thank those who went beyond this wall. They know what we’re talking about when we talk about saving people. Without you it will be difficult for us to stand on our own.