Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy referenced 9/11 and Pearl Harbor in a moving Wednesday morning plea to Congress for more help in his country’s war with Russia.
“In your great history, you have pages that would allow you to understand Ukrainians, to understand us now when we need you right now,” Zelenskyy told Congress in his address to a room full of lawmakers, according to a simultaneous translation of his remarks which he delivered mainly in Ukrainian. “Remember Pearl Harbor. The terrible morning of December 7, 1941, when your skies were black from planes attacking you.”
He added of the September 11 attacks, “when evil turned your cities, independent territories into battlefields.”
Zelenskyy said these heartbreaking chapters in American history are unfolding in his country every day.
“Our country is going through the same thing every day,” he said. “Right now, every day, every night for three weeks now…Russia has turned the Ukrainian skies into a source of death for thousands of people.”
Senator Chris Murphy, who has known Zelenskyy for years, said it made sense for the president to link Ukraine’s current struggle to American history.
“He’s right to tie this moment to the larger struggle for democracy and freedom,” Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, told Insider. “What he says is true in the best traditions of the American struggle for freedom. This fight with Russia will determine how secure global democracy is for the next 50 years.”
Ukraine’s president also compared his call for more aid to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I have a dream” speech.
“I have a dream, these words are known to each of you,” Zelenskyy said. “Today I can say that I have a need. I need to protect our skies. I need your decision and your help, which means exactly the same as you feel when you hear, ‘I have a dream.'”
His plea for a no-fly zone, which Western leaders have ruled out, was punctuated by a video full of images of his country at peace and now constantly under the fire of war. An image showed a man walking down the street before an explosion occurred nearby. President Joe Biden and other leaders have ruled out a no-fly zone because it would risk pitting the world’s two biggest nuclear powers against each other in an active shooter war.
“Today the Ukrainian people are not only defending Ukraine, we are fighting for the values of Europe and the world,” Zelenskyy said, switching to English as he neared the end of his remarks. . “That’s why today the American people are helping not just Ukraine, but Europe and the world to keep the planet alive to preserve justice and history.”
Zelensky’s speech comes at a critical time in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. An estimated 3 million Ukrainians have fled the country since Russia started its war. But the Pentagon and Western intelligence services have also said the Kremlin did not anticipate the strong resistance it encountered as it attempted to move across the country.