Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenksyy, on Tuesday March 15, 2022, expressed his disappointment at the West for not giving the much desired assistance to stop the war declared by the Russian Government against Ukraine.
Addressing the Canadian Parliament over the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian soldiers, Zelenksyy, in a devastating mood, said, “Can you imagine when you call your friends, your friendly nation, and you ask: ‘Please close the sky, close the airspace, please stop the bombing. How many more cruise missiles have to fall on our cities until you make this happen? And they, in return, they express their deep concerns about the situation. When we talk with our partners, they say, ‘Please hold on, hold on a little longer.”
“Some people are talking about trying to avoid the escalation and at the same time, in response to our aspiration to become members of NATO, we also do not hear a clear answer. Sometimes we don’t see obvious things. It’s dire straits, but it’s also allowed us to see who our real friends are over the last 20 days and as well, eight previous years”, he added.
Pointing out that the Russian soldiers have killed 97 Ukrainian children, he lamented, “They’re destroying everything: memorial complexes, schools, hospitals, housing complex. We’re not asking for much. We’re asking for justice, for real support which will help us to prevail, to defend, to save lives all over the world.”
Sharing what Ukrainians have passed through since President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia declared war against Ukraine, Zelenksyy stated, “I would like you to understand my feelings, and feelings of all Ukrainians as far as it is possible. Our feelings over the last 20 days; 20 days of a full-scale aggression of Russian Federation after eight years of fighting in Donbas region. Can you only imagine? Imagine that at 4 a.m., each of you start hearing bomb explosions. Severe explosions. Justin, can you imagine hearing it? You, your children hear all these severe explosions: bombing of airport, bombing of Ottawa airport, tens of other cities of your wonderful country. Can you imagine that? Cruise missiles falling down, and your children asking you, ‘What happened?’ And you’re receiving the first news which infrastructure objects have been bombed and destroyed by Russian Federation, and you know how many people already died.”
He said, “Can you only imagine? What words, how can you explain to your children full-scale aggression just happened in your country? You know that this is war to annihilate your state, your country. You know that this is the war to subjugate your people.
“And on the second day, you receive notifications that huge columns of military equipment are entering your country. Crossing the border, they’re entering small cities. They are giving siege, encircling cities and they start to shell civil neighbourhoods.
“They bomb school buildings. They destroy kindergartens. Like in our city: city of Sumy, like in city of Okhtyrka. Imagine that someone is laying siege to Vancouver. Can you just imagine for a second?
“And all these people who are left in such cities, this is exactly the situation that the city of Mariupol is suffering right now. And they’re left without heat or hydro, without means of communicating, almost without food, without water, seeking shelter in the bomb shelters.
“Dear Justin, dear guests: can you imagine that every day you see memorandums about the number of casualties, including among women and children? You heard about the bombings: currently, we have 97 children that died during this war.
“Can you imagine the famous CN Tower in Toronto, if it was hit by Russian bombs? Of course, I don’t wish this on anyone but this is our reality in which we live. We have to contemplate, we have to see where the next bombing will take place. We have a freedom square in the city of Kharkiv, our (unclear), the place where victims of Holocaust have been buried, and today it was bombed by Russians.
“Imagine that Canadian facilities have been bombed similarly as our buildings and our memorial places are being bombed. A number of families have died. Every night is a horrible night.
“Russians are shelling from all kinds of artillery, from tanks. They’re hitting civilian infrastructure. They’re hitting big buildings. Can you imagine there is a fire starting at a nuclear power plant? That’s exactly what happened in our country. Each city that they’re marching through, they’re taking down Ukrainian flags. Can you imagine someone taking down your Canadian flags in Montreal and other Canadian cities?
“I know that you all support Ukraine and (unclear) friends with you, Justin, but also I would like you to understand, and I would like you to feel this: what we feel every day.
“We want to be victorious. We want to prevail for the sake of life.”
