Ukraine’s besieged leader called on September 11 and Pearl Harbor in an impassioned address to the US Congress on Wednesday, calling for Washington to increase military aid and enact a no-fly zone to counter the closing Russian offensive in Kyiv. asked for.
President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a speech to maximum impact on his audience, explaining civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and presenting a chilling video of the death and destruction caused by the Moscow attack on Ukrainian cities. Let’s try to increase the pressure. Aggressive US response.
President Joe Biden was expected to follow up by announcing an additional $800 million in military aid to Ukraine, but the White House has consistently rejected the idea of a no-fly zone for fear of an escalation that would direct conflict to NATO countries. can bring in. Russian army.
More than three weeks into a war that has claimed hundreds of civilian lives and displaced three million people abroad, Zelensky addressed Congress by video link from an undisclosed location in Kyiv, telling lawmakers that His country “is grappling with a terror that Europe has not seen … for 80 years.”
“Remember Pearl Harbor, the dreadful morning of December 7, 1941, when your sky was blackened by planes attacking you,” he said, recalling the air raid that brought the United States into World War II.
He told lawmakers, “Remember September 11, a terrible day in 2001 when evil tried to turn your cities, independent territories into battlefields.”
“Our country experienced the same every day,” said Zelensky, wearing his now trademark green army T-shirt, a Ukrainian flag behind him.
Zelensky’s appearance was being described as the most dramatic by a foreign leader since Winston Churchill in 1941, to address the US Congress, the third president of Ukraine after the Soviet Union.
But it was civil rights activist King who was remembered by the comedian-turned-wartime leader as he pleaded for a no-fly zone to protect Ukraine’s skies.
“I have a dream, these words are known to each of you today that I can say. I need you, I need to protect my sky. I need your decisions, your help.”
‘Leader of Peace’
Addressing Biden directly, Zelensky urged him to become the “leader of peace” as he showed lawmakers footage of ruined buildings and injured Ukrainian civilians, including children, with the words “turn off the sky” in the final frame. Was.
Zelensky’s appearance – welcomed by a standing ovation at the US Capitol complex – comes less than a week after lawmakers flagged off nearly $14 billion in humanitarian and military aid for the war-torn nation.
It was his second speech to members of Congress, having spoken to 300 of them during a video call earlier this month, but the first time he appealed directly to the American public.
Biden is expected to announce a total of $1 billion in new security aid to Ukraine on Wednesday – $200 million already allocated over the weekend and $800 million in new funds from the aid package signed into law on Tuesday.
And the House of Representatives is set to vote on legislation to terminate normal trade relations with Russia this week, just days after Biden announced US sanctions on Russian oil and gas.
But renewed calls for more help to Ukrainian air defenses beyond Stinger and Javelin missiles are likely to keep Biden under pressure to move forward.
Mark Warner, the Democratic chairman of the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee, declared himself “incredibly moved” by Zelensky’s address, saying Washington should heed his calls for additional anti-tank weapons and anti-aircraft missiles – Although less than to support their call for a stop-flight restricted area.
‘It’s called the third world war’
After Ukraine closed the skies, several lawmakers criticized Zelensky’s pleas for US officials to help broker the transfer of Soviet-style weapons to Ukraine, including MiG fighter jets and surface-to-air missile systems from Poland. has endorsed.
Biden, who heads to Europe next week for talks with NATO allies, is grappling with concerns that Russia may see any such move as an escalation, while officials have also questioned whether the MiG fighter jets were in Kyiv. How useful would it be?
“The idea that we’re going to send offensive equipment and have American pilots and American crews running planes and tanks and trains – just understand, don’t joke yourself, no matter what you all say, it’s called World War III. goes,” Biden told House Democrats last week.
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