Ukraine’s Zelenskyy addresses Congress, invokes 9/11, Pearl Harbor, MLK as he pleads for pivotal aid

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an tackle to Congress Wednesday, pleaded with america to “do extra” by implementing a no-fly zone, offering further plane and air protection programs, and creating a brand new safety alliance.

Zelenskyy, talking to U.S. lawmakers from Kyiv, the place he has chosen to stay whilst Russian forces transfer on town, thanked President Biden for his “private involvement” and “honest dedication to the protection of Ukraine,” and america for the help it has supplied.

“Nonetheless, now it’s true within the darkest time for our nation, for the entire Europe, I name on you to do extra,” Zelenskyy stated.

“Women and gents, associates, People, in your nice historical past, you’ve gotten pages that will assist you to perceive Ukrainians perceive us proper now, once we want you proper now,” he stated. “Keep in mind Pearl Harbor, horrible morning of December 7, 1941, when your sky was black from the plains attacking you. Simply keep in mind it.”

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Zelenskyy went on to invoke Sept. 11, 2001, calling it a “horrible day” when “impartial territories” had been changed into “battlefields,” and “when harmless folks had been attacked—attacked from the air.”

“Sure, identical to nobody else anticipated. You would not cease it. Our nation skilled the identical day-after-day,” Zelenskyy stated. “Proper now at this second, each night time for 3 weeks now, varied Ukrainian cities, Odessa and Kakutani, have been so many predominantly of Mariupol.”

Zelenskyy stated Russia has “turned the Ukrainian sky right into a supply of demise for 1000’s of individuals,” saying there are missiles and “numerous bombs.”

“They use drones to kill us with precision,” he stated. “This can be a terror that Europe has not seen for 80 years, and we’re asking for a reply—for a solution from this terror from the entire world.” 

“Is that this lots 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? A humanitarian no-fly zone, one thing that Ukraine—that Russia wouldn’t be capable of terrorize our free cities?” Zelenskyy pleaded.

“If that is an excessive amount of to ask, we provide an alternate,” Zelenskyy stated, calling for air “highly effective, robust” air programs to “defend our folks, our freedom, our land.”

” that they exist and you’ve got them, however they’re on earth,” he stated. “Not in Ukraine, not within the Ukrainian sky—they don’t defend our folks.”

Invoking Martin Luther King Jr., Zelenskyy stated: “I’ve a dream.”

“These phrases are recognized to every of you. In the present day, I can say I’ve a necessity. A necessity to guard our sky. I want your resolution, your assist, which implies precisely the identical,” he stated. “The identical you are feeling if you hear the phrases, I’ve a dream.”