Watch Zelensky channel Churchill in rousing speech to Congress: ‘Ukraine will never surrender’
Ukraine’s president channeled the words of Sir Winston Churchill in a rousing speech to US Congress, saying his country ” will never surrender” against Russia.
In an address to US lawmakers he wished them a “happy, victorious new year” while repeatedly asking America for more funding and weapons.
Appearing in his now trademark military sweater, he said “against all odds and doom-and-gloom scenarios, Ukraine didn’t fall. Ukraine is alive and kicking.”
Praising the Ukrainian -US “first joint victory”, he said “we defeated Russia in the battle for minds of the world. “
During his historic Washington visit, Zelensky and president Biden agreed new $1.85bn military aid package, including U.S. Patriot air defence battery part of new assistance.
He told them “Ukraine never asked the American soldiers to fight on our land instead of us. I assure you that Ukrainian soldiers can perfectly operate American tanks and planes themselves.”
Insisting more funding “is not charity. It’s an investment in the global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way”, his speech came amid a meeting with President Joe Biden.
He told Congress, “if your Patriots stop the Russian terror against our cities, it will let Ukrainian patriots work to the full to defend our freedom.”
He branded Russia’s tactics “primitive” saying they “burn down and destroy everything they see. They sent thugs to the front lines. They sent convicts to the war.”
Echoing the fight against fascism in the Second World War, he said Russia has thrown “everything it had against the free world, just like the brave American soldiers which held their lines and fought back Hitler’s forces during the Christmas of 1944. Brave Ukrainian soldiers are doing the same to Putin’s forces this Christmas.
Channeling his inner Winston Churchill, he said: “Ukraine — Ukraine holds its lines and will never surrender.
Delivering his address in English, and unfurling a signed Ukrainian flag at the end, his rousing speech comes during his first foreign trip since the war in Ukraine started.
His speech marked exactly 300 days since the war began.