Thursday, February 9, 2023 | 9:15 a.m.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky said on Thursday that his country sees Europe as “the way home” and said that with the “total war” launched by Russia, the Kremlin is trying to “annihilate the European way of life.” from Ukraine”.
“For Ukraine, Europe is the way home. I am here to defend the way home for all Ukrainians, of all ages, social status and religious convictions,” Zelensky said. “We are defending ourselves against the most anti-European force in the modern world. We are defending ourselves and we are defending you.”
The Ukrainian president made these statements before an extraordinary plenary session of the European Parliament that received him with cheers and a long applause in the first of his commitments in Brussels, before going to the leaders’ summit.
After being cheered on, the Ukrainian president appeared to hold back tears as he shouted “Slava Ukraini!” (Glory to Ukraine).
In his address, Zelensky described Russian President Vladimir Putin as “a dictator with massive supplies and reserves of Soviet weapons and weapons of dictatorial regimes, Iran in particular.”
“In order to fight like this, the Kremlin, cynically and deliberately, year after year, step after step, tried to eliminate what we consider to be our values in Europe,” the president said. “The value of human lives has been destroyed in Russia. For the authorities there, no one has value, apart from those who are in the Kremlin and have their own wallets in their hearts, ”he added.
“The 140 million Russian citizens for Russia’s leaders are just bodies that are capable of carrying weapons for Russia,” Zelensky said. “The Russian regime hates any social justice and diversity, they invest in xenophobia, they are trying to make the inhumane realities of the 1930s and 1940s a reality today.”
Zelensky thanked the EU for its “principled and forceful” approach to supporting Ukraine and hailed European living standards, the rule of law, open societies and European values.
“This is our Europe, these are our rules, this is our way of life. And for Ukraine it is a way home, ”she said. “Only our victory will guarantee our European values,” she assured.
The President of Ukraine also thanked the people of towns and cities across Europe for the support given to Ukrainians in this “historic battle”.
Zelensky said the prospect of his country joining the EU motivates them to stay strong and stay the course.
“Europe is defending itself against infiltration by Russian secret services, ridding itself of dependence on Russian gas,” he said. “Ukraine will be a member of a European Union that is winning.”
“I invite you all to Ukraine, and glory to Ukraine,” he said at the end of his speech.
Subsequently, he received the flag of the European Union amid cheers and applause from MEPs.
Ukraine applied to become a member of the bloc shortly after Russia’s invasion and was formally granted candidate status in June.
Before Zelensky’s speech, the head of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, backed Ukraine’s call for more weapons, saying: “We know the sacrifice your people have endured for Europe and we must honor it not only with words but also with actions.”
“Ukraine is Europe and the future of your nation is in the European Union,” he said. “States must quickly consider as the next step providing the long-range systems and aircraft they need to protect the freedom that many take for granted.”
He said this should include “the planes you need to protect the freedom that many have taken for granted.”
It was the third time that the Ukrainian president addressed the European Parliament since the start of the war, after a speech on March 1 by videoconference a few days after the invasion and another to thank the Sakharov Prize awarded by the institution to the people Ukrainian last December.
Participation in the European Council
After his address in the European Parliament, Zelensky will travel to the headquarters of the European Council, where EU leaders hold a summit focused on Ukraine and on economic and migration issues.
This meeting between the Twenty-seven is expected to last an hour and a half and between 12:00 and 14:00 (between 11:00 and 13:00 GMT) there will be time for the European leaders to meet with the Ukrainian president bilaterally.
Zelensky arrived in Brussels after the European tour that began yesterday in the United Kingdom, where he met with the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and also delivered a speech in Parliament.
Later he traveled to Paris, where he met with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whom he asked for more heavy weapons and combat aircraft.
Zelensky flew to Brussels today with Macron, and both were received by the President of the European Council and the President of the Commission, Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen, respectively, at the airport, where Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De croo.
In a tweet, Von der Leyen welcomed the Ukrainian president to the capital that houses the European institutions, where he said, “the heart of the European family, to which Ukraine belongs.”
“We will support Ukraine every step of the way towards our Union,” Von der Leyen added on Twitter.
