OTTAWA — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered an impassioned plea for more support and the closure of his country's airspace during a virtual address to Canadian members of Parliament and senators in the House of Commons on Tuesday.
Here are some key quotes from the event:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (in Ukrainian):
"Can you only imagine? Imagine that at 4 a.m., each of you, you start hearing bomb explosions, severe explosions. Justin, can you imagine hearing — you, your children — hearing all these severe explosions? Bombing (the) airport, bombing the Ottawa airport?"
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"Can you imagine when you call your friends, your friendly nations, and you ask, 'Please close the sky, please close the airspace. Please stop the bombing. How many more cruise missiles have to fall on our cities before you make this happen?' And they, in return, express their deep concerns about the situation … and they say, 'Please hold on a little longer.'"
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"You have imposed severe sanctions, serious sanctions. At the same time, we see that unfortunately it did not bring an end to the war."
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"Our cities are not protected just like your cities are protected — Edmonton, Vancouver. You can see that Kyiv is being shelled, being bombed … It used to be we were a very peaceful country, peaceful cities. Now they’re being constantly bombarded."
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"You all need to do more to stop Russia, to protect Ukraine, and by doing that, to protect Europe from (the) Russian threat."
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau:
"Volodymyr, in the years I’ve known you, I’ve always thought of you as a champion of democracy. And now, democracies around the world are lucky to have you as their champion."
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"You’re defending the right of Ukrainians to choose their own future. And in doing so, you’re defending the values that form the pillars of all free, democratic countries: freedom, human rights, justice, truth, international order."
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"In Canada, we like to root for the underdog. We believe that when a cause is just and right, it will always prevail, no matter the size of the opponent."
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"This illegal and unnecessary war is a grave mistake, and Putin must stop it now."
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Interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen:
"This war of naked aggression has revealed Vladimir Putin for what he really is: a warmonger and a violent predator with no regard for human suffering."
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“We must do more together with our allies to secure Ukraine’s airspace. We need to protect, at a minimum, the airspace over humanitarian corridors so that Ukrainians can seek safe passage away from the war zones and to allow humanitarian relief to reach those areas under siege.”
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Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet (in French):
"It is difficult for me to admit to a certain powerlessness as well, a powerlessness to do much more than express our compassion, our desire, which is only a shadow of yours, to wake us all up from this nightmare that inhabits our screens on a daily basis."
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NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh:
"I think about something my Mom always taught me, this phrase in Punjabi. It’s 'chardi kala'. And I always misunderstood what it meant. … She always said, ‘It’s rising spirits in the face of difficult odds.’ I can’t think of a moment to describe the courage of Ukrainians, the courage of President Zelenskyy. I can’t think of a more fitting moment to describe that as 'chardi kala.'”
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Green Party parliamentary leader Elizabeth May:
“We must use every tool, and I fear the tools we have in front of us are inadequate to the task. President Zelenskyy, we do not want to let you down. We fear that we may inevitably let you down, but we will find every tool we can find, and where there aren’t adequate tools, by God, let’s invent them.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 15, 2022.
The Canadian Press
