WASHINGTON, DC —
Ukraine's besieged leader invoked September
11 and Pearl Harbor in an impassioned address Wednesday to the US Congress,
imploring Washington to step up military aid and impose a no-fly zone to
counter the Russian invasion closing in on Kyiv.
اضافة اعلان
Paraphrasing civil rights leader Martin
Luther King Jr. and presenting a chilling video of the death and destruction
visited on Ukrainian cities by Moscow's onslaught, President
Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a speech tailored for maximum impact on his audience as
he seeks to ramp up pressure for a more 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 could bring
NATO countries into direct conflict with
Russian forces.
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 unknown location in
Kyiv, telling lawmakers his country was battling "a terror that
Europe has
not seen... for 80 years".
"Remember Pearl Harbor, terrible
morning of December 7, 1941, when your sky was black from the planes attacking
you," he said, recalling the air raid that brought the United States into
World War II.
"Remember September 11, a terrible day
in 2001 when evil tried to turn your cities, independent territories, in
battlefields," he told lawmakers.
"Our country experienced the same every
day," said Zelensky, wearing his now trademark green army T-shirt, a
Ukrainian flag behind him.
The third president of post-Soviet Ukraine
to address the
US Congress, Zelensky's appearance was being touted as the most
dramatic by a foreign leader since Winston Churchill in 1941.
But it was the civil rights activist King
that the comedian-turned-wartime leader recalled as he pleaded for a no-fly
zone to defend Ukraine's skies.
"I have a dream, these words are known
to each of you today I can say. I have a need, I need to protect our sky. I
need your decision, your help," he said.
'Leader of
peace'
Addressing
Biden directly, Zelensky urged
him to be "the leader of peace" as he showed lawmakers wrenching
footage of ruined buildings and injured Ukrainian civilians including children,
with the final frame showing the words "close the sky".
The idea that we're going to send in offensive equipment and have planes and tanks and trains going in with American pilots and American crews – just understand, don't kid yourself, no matter what you all say, that's called World War III.
Zelensky's appearance – greeted by a
standing ovation in the
US Capitol complex – came less than a week after
lawmakers green-lit nearly $14 billion in humanitarian and military aid for the
war-torn nation.
It was his second speech to members of
Congress, having talked 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 help to Ukraine later 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 this week on legislation to revoke normal trade relations with Russia,
just days after Biden announced a US ban on Russian oil and gas.
But the renewed call for more help to beef
up Ukrainian air defenses beyond Stinger and Javelin missiles is likely to
maintain the pressure on Biden to go further.
The Democratic chairman of the powerful
Senate intelligence committee, Mark Warner, declared himself "incredibly
moved" by Zelensky's address, saying Washington must heed his call for
additional anti-tank weapons and anti-aircraft missiles – though stopping short
of backing his call for a no-fly zone.
'That's
called World War III'
Short of closing Ukraine's skies, many
lawmakers have backed Zelensky's pleas for US officials to help broker the
transfer of Soviet-style weapons to Ukraine, including MiG fighter jets from
Poland and S-300 surface-to-air missile systems.
Biden – who heads to Europe next week for
talks with NATO allies – is grappling with concerns Russia might see any such
move as an escalation, while officials have also raised questions about how
useful MiG fighters would be to Kyiv.
"The idea that we're going to send in
offensive equipment and have planes and tanks and trains going in with American
pilots and American crews – just understand, don't kid yourself, no matter what
you all say, that's called World War III," Biden told House Democrats last
week.
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