Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged American lawmakers to do more to protect his country from Russia‘s invasion in an address before the U.S. Congress in which he pleaded with President Joe Biden to be the world’s “leader of peace,” according to Reuters.
“Russia has turned the Ukrainian sky into a source of death for thousands of people,” Zelenskiy said in his virtual address before showing a video containing graphic images of death and destruction in Ukraine that ended with „Close the sky over Ukraine.”
Zelenskiy continued his push for the imposition of a no-fly zone over Ukraine and asked for more planes and defense systems to respond to a Russian invasion launched last month that has caused large-scale destruction in his country and has unleashed a wave of refugees.
He closed his address with a direct plea in English to Biden: „I wish you to be the leader of the world. Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.”
Along with NATO, Biden and many U.S. lawmakers have resisted a no-fly zone amid concerns that it would escalate the conflict with nuclear-armed Russia. The White House so far also has not supported a proposal to help transfer Russian-made MiG warplanes into Ukraine, though that idea has some support in Congress.
Zelenskiy’s address to lawmakers in Washington came a day after he made a plea to Canada’s parliament for more Western sanctions on Russia and the imposition of a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
Biden on Tuesday signed into law $13.6 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine to help it obtain more weaponry and for humanitarian assistance. Biden was expected to announce an additional $800 million in security assistance to Ukraine later on Wednesday in remarks on U.S. aid to the country, a White House official said.
Zelenskiy invoked past attacks on the United States – in 1941 by Japanese forces at Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor and in 2001 by al Qaeda militants using hijacked airliners – in explaining Ukraine’s plight. He also mentioned Mt. Rushmore, the mountainside monument in South Dakota with sculpted faces of four of America’s greatest presidents.
„Right now, the destiny of our country is being decided,” Zelenskiy said earlier in the speech through an interpreter, adding that his country was facing a terror that Europe had not experienced since World War Two.
Zelenskiy also suggested the creation of a new international institution to protect the peace and respond to natural and human-caused disasters.
Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a „special operation.”
Zelenskiy has sought in recent weeks to shore up support for his country in various speeches to foreign audiences, also including the European Parliament and the British Parliament.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal.
Biden has announced a ban on Russian oil and other energy imports and has called for a suspension of Russia’s trading status that affords its exported products lower tariffs in the international arena. The House is attempting to pass legislation responding to Biden’s request this week.