WASHINGTON.- In another dramatic plea for help, Ukraine’s president, Volodimir Zelensky, urged the United States Congress to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine, expand military assistance to the country and impose more sanctions on Russia for the invasion by delivering a historic speech from kyiv in the midst of war. “We need you now,” Zelensky told US senators and congressmen. “I call you to do more”, he implored.
Under siege from Russian bombing, Zelensky addressed lawmakers at the first virtual speech by a foreign leader before both chambers of Congress. The president, who has become a global icon since the invasion of Vladimir Putin’s troops in Ukraine, used his message to demand for the umpteenth time a greater involvement of Washington and its allies in the conflict, and reiterated his main plea: an exclusion zone aerial, a request for help that the Joe Biden administration has already flatly ruled out in the face of the possibility that it could spark a direct confrontation with Moscow and lead to World War III.
“If this is too much to ask, they know what kind of defense system we need,” he added, calling for more assistance.
In his message, which he toasted from his desk, dressed in his now traditional green fajina shirt, Zelensky appealed to the history of the United States by evoking the bombing of Japan in Pearl Harbor, that led the country to fight in World War II, and the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, that led to the war in Afghanistan, the longest in US history.
“Our country lives the same every day. Right now, at this moment, every night,” Zelensky said. “Russia has turned the Ukrainian sky into a source of death”, full.
If before the British parliament Zelensky had invoked Winston Churchill and William Shakespeare, before the North American legislators he resorted to Martin Luther King Jr.: “I have a dream –said the Ukrainian president–. These words are known to you. Today, I can say I have a need. I need to protect the sky. I need your decision, your help, which means the same thing, the same thing you feel when you hear the words, ‘I have a dream’”.
That was the introduction that Zelensky chose to make the central request of his speech: that the West close the Ukrainian sky to stop Russia’s bombing, which has intensified and has killed civilians in several cities in the country. Anticipating the West’s rejection of that move, Zelensky called for planes – another call that has gone unanswered – or more missiles to respond to Russian attacks. To reinforce his claim, Zelensky told Congress that Ukrainians are fighting for Western values.
“Right now, the fate of our country is being decided. If the Ukrainians will be free. Russia has not only attacked our cities, but launched a brutal offensive against our values, our right to live freely,” Zelensky said. “Today, the Ukrainians are not defending only Ukraine. We are defending the values of Europe and the world”, he added about the end.
Before finishing his message, Zelensky broadcast a prepared video that began by showing life in various cities in Ukraine before the invasion – peace, sunshine, children playing outdoors, young people – and then offered some of the harshest images of the war. , bombings, dead and wounded people, in hospitals and on the streets, and refugees, the elderly, women and children fleeing the country.
The video closed with a direct message: “Close the sky over Ukraine.”
In the end, Zelensky sent a direct message to the president of the United States, Joe Biden.
“I am writing to President Biden: you are the leader of the nation, of your great nation. I wish him to be the leader of the world. Being the leader of the world means being the leader of peace. Thanks. Glory to Ukraine”, he closed, in English.
Zelensky was dismissed with a standing ovation, but nothing suggests that his main request will be granted. The White House remains steadfast in its refusal to impose a no-fly zone or send planes to Ukraine for fear of escalation and direct confrontation with Russia leading to a third world war. The alignment of Russia and China also generates enormous concern in the Biden government, which looks at Beijing with distrust. Xi Jinping’s government has refused to unequivocally condemn the invasion, insisting that there must be a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
After the speech, the White House prepares to announce a new $800 million military aid package that will bring total aid to more than $2 billion since Biden became president.