Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy brought his push for further support against Russian aggression to the Canadian parliament on Tuesday, asking leaders of the northern neighbor to the United States to imagine if the sort of atrocities unfolding in Ukraine were happening to them and urging them to step up the campaign to stop Russia. Weeks ago, Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine, and although the Russian military has been held back from making the sort of comprehensive gains it was after, that doesn’t mean that the consequences for Ukraine haven’t been devastating. Thousands of civilians in the country have already lost their lives, and attacks on civilian targets across Ukraine are continuing, from Mariupol to Kyiv (the capital) and beyond. As Zelenskyy put it:
‘Can you imagine that every day you receive memorandums about the number of casualties, including women and children? You’ve heard about the bombings… Of course, I don’t wish this on anyone. But this is our reality in which we live. We have to contemplate. We have to see where the next bombing will take place… Imagine that Canadian facilities have been bombed similarly as our buildings and memorial places are being bombed. A number of families have died. Every night is a horrible night — Russians are shelling from all kinds of artillery. From tanks. They’re hitting civilian infrastructure… Can you imagine that there is a fire starting at a nuclear power plant? And that’s exactly what happened in our country… I would like you to understand. And I would like you to feel this — what we feel everyday. We want to live. And we want to be victorious. We want to prevail for the sake of life.’
Zelenskyy also repeated his call for a no-fly zone over Ukraine, which would entail forcibly blocking Russian aircraft from traversing Ukrainian skies — something that Putin’s regime would no doubt see as an escalation but which Zelenskyy is obviously understandably behind considering the devastating, existentially threatening conditions in Ukraine. Zelenskyy observed that “some people are talking about trying to avoid the escalation, and at the same time, in response to our aspiration to become a member of NATO, we also do not hear a clear answer… It’s dire straits, but it also allowed us to see who our real friends are over the last 20 days and eight previous years… You all need to do more to stop Russia, to protect Ukraine, and by doing that, to protect Europe from Russian threats. They’re destroying everything — memorial complexes, schools, hospitals, housing complexes.” Zelenskyy also called for increasing sanctions targeting the Russian regime. Watch Zelenskyy’s remarks below — he received a standing ovation:
Zelenskyy has garnered expansive support for the stand that he’s launched for his country. A curfew in Kyiv — where somewhere around 2 million people were recently reported to have stayed behind — has been extended to Thursday. According to the Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security under the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, “Kyiv has prepared a two-week supply of food products in case of a blockade… This stock should be enough for two million Kyiv residents who have stayed in the city.”
Kyiv has prepared a two-week supply of food products in case of a blockade – Kyiv City State Administration. This stock should be enough for two million Kyiv residents who have stayed in the city. #StopRussia #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/9S7ZndDvYM
— Stratcom Centre UA (@StratcomCentre) March 13, 2022
