New Delhi: “Our cities are now blocked,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday, but defiantly added that his countrymen were fighting for “our land and freedom”.
In an address to the European Parliament by video on Tuesday, Zelensky said, “Nobody is going to break us, we are strong, we are Ukrainians.”
“We have a desire to see our children alive,” Zelensky said to a standing ovation at this extraordinary session of the EU Parliament, convened to discuss the situation in Ukraine.
Zelensky urged the European Union to prove that it was on Ukraine’s side in its war with Russia. Zelensky had signed off Monday an official request to join the bloc.
Zelensky told the European Parliament: “The European Union is going to be much stronger with us, that’s for sure. Without you, Ukraine is going to be alone.”
“Do prove that you are with us. Do prove that you will not let us go. Do prove that you are indeed Europeans and then life will win over death and light will win over darkness. Glory be to Ukraine,” he continued.
Flags of the EU ?? and Ukraine ?? are flying outside the @Europarl_EN building in Brussels.
Tomorrow, extraordinary Plenary debate with @eucopresident @CharlesMichel, President of @EU_Commission @vonderleyen, and HRVP @JosepBorrelF starts at 12:30. #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/A3O9hRE2XN
— Roberta Metsola (@EP_President) February 28, 2022
Ukraine is battling to hold back attacking Russian forces as the invasion entered its sixth day Tuesday. The country’s second-largest city Kharkiv has been hammered, killing several, among them a fourth-year medical student from Karnataka, India.
Satellite images have also shown that a huge Russian convoy was rolling towards Kyiv from the north, crossing over from ally Belarus.
In a Facebook post earlier Tuesday, Zelensky said his “key priority” was the protection of his capital Kyiv.
He wrote in the post: “Kharkiv and Kyiv are currently the most important targets for Russia. Terror is meant to break us. To break our resistance. They are heading to our capital, as well as to Kharkiv.”
He further wrote: “Kyiv is special. If we protect Kyiv, we will protect the state. This is the heart of our country. And it must keep beating. And it will keep beating, so that life triumphs.”
Zelensky told his people that the attack on Kharkiv was an “act of terror”, a “war crime”. “This is terror against Ukraine… There was no military target on the square (Kharkiv’s city centre).”
He called upon the world to declare that Russia was “committing state terrorism”. He wanted these perpetrators to be tried in international courts.
The European Union has slapped Russia with a barrage of sanctions, also targeting President Vladimir Putin, his top officials, oligarchs supporting him and the country’s central bank.
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