WASHINGTON — In a wartime address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged lawmakers and all Americans to continue supporting his country with military and financial aid as it fights for its existence against a revanchist Russia, warning that anything short of victory would threaten the free world, including the United States.
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During his 22-minute speech from the podium of the House of Representatives on December 21, Zelenskiy stressed that Ukraine can win the war against a better-armed Russian Army, but said U.S. military and financial aid was “crucial” to achieving final victory.
As he asked for more aid, Zelenskiy sought to hammer home to the American people that a war being fought thousands of miles away in towns they never heard of concerned them directly. He stressed that global freedom and democracy as well as American security were at stake in Ukraine and compared war with Russia to the U.S. War of Independence.
Ukraine’s defense “is not only for life, freedom, and the security of Ukrainians. It will define whether [there] will be democracy for Ukrainians and for Americans,” Zelenskiy, dressed in his signature, military-style olive-green sweater and trousers, said in English.
The war “cannot be frozen or postponed, it cannot be ignored, hoping that the ocean or something else will provide protection.”
Zelenskiy’s trip to the United States comes as Congress prepares to vote on a sweeping spending bill that includes a provision to allocate an estimated $45 billion in additional military aid to Ukraine.
While the bill is expected to pass, U.S. support for Ukraine has waned as the 10-month war drags on and as Americans feel the pinch from high inflation.
Many members of the Republican party, which will take control of the House in January, have criticized massive aid to Ukraine at a time when the U.S. economy is suffering and also questioned how the aid is being used. Meanwhile, some members of the Democratic party have expressed concern that growing military aid to Ukraine will provoke Russia.
Zelenskiy sought to address those concerns head on, saying U.S. aid was not “charity” but rather “an investment in global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way.”
Zelenskiy told Congress that he had presented Biden with a 10-point peace plan but did not disclose its contents. The announcement of such a peace plan could soothe those members of Congress who had been calling for more diplomacy and less aid.
Zelenskiy also said that Iran — which the United States has labeled a terrorist state — had essentially allied with Russia in its war against his country, selling hundreds of deadly kamikaze drones to Moscow.
“That is how one terrorist has found the other,” he said, a reference to Ukraine’s designation of Russia as a terrorist state as well.
“It is just a matter of time when they will strike against your other allies if we do not stop them now,” he said.
Zelenskiy’s visit to Washington came a day after his trip to Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine at the heart of the war.
Russia has been trying to capture Bakhmut for months, shelling the city nonstop and throwing wave after wave of soldiers into the fight.
The capture of Bakhmut would allow Russia to disrupt Ukraine’s supply lines but also open the door for a future offensive on two bigger Ukrainian cities with more industry and rail access.
In his address, Zelenskiy compared the heroism of Ukrainian soldiers defending Bakhmut to that shown by U.S. troops fighting Hitler’s military in the Battle of the Bulge in 1944, also during the Christmas season.
“Bakhmut…
Read More: Zelenskiy Tells Congress That Continued U.S. Support Is ‘Crucial’ To Ukraine’s Victory