‘Remember Pearl Harbor’: Zelenskyy Begs America for More Help Against Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy begged America for more help in a Wednesday address to Congress—and used a brutal video showing scenes of the war’s victims to ask for more military support, a no-fly zone, and more sanctions against Russia.
“The destiny of our country is being decided. The destiny of our people. Whether Ukrainians will be free, whether they will be able to preserve their democracy. Russia has attacked not just us, not just our land, not just our cities. It went on a brutal offensive against our values, basic human values,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy invoked Pearl Harbor and 9/11, quoted Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, and played a video detailing the human costs of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—children crying and wounded, scenes of elderly people attempting to flee in wheelchairs and walkers, of wounded pregnant women being evacuated from the Mariupol maternity hospital, of dead bodies being buried in a ditch.
“Close the sky over Ukraine,” the video concluded.
“I wish you to be leader of the world,” Zelenskyy said, switching to English and addressing President Biden directly as he concluded his plea. “Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.”
Zelenskyy reiterated his call for the U.S. to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Biden and many in Congress have explicitly rejected a no-fly zone so far because this would require shooting down Russian planes and risk escalating Russia’s invasion of Ukraine into a wider war and direct conflict between the U.S. and Russia.
“Ukraine is grateful to the United States for its overwhelming support,” Zelenskyy said, thanking America for its sanctions and the weapons the U.S. has provided. “I call on you to do more.”
He also called for the U.S. to continue to expand its already-harsh sanctions against Russia, a move that Biden and Congress might be more likely to pursue. The sanctions already put in place have crippled Russia’s economy, destroying the value of the rouble and forcing the country to close its stock market to prevent further panic.
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via https://www.DMT.NEWS
Cameron Joseph, Khareem Sudlow
