Zelenskiy pleads for aid, tells US Congress ‘remember Pearl Harbor’

Bloomberg

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made a dramatic plea to the US for more help fending off Russia’s invasion, targeting members of Congress who are ready to provide money and equipment but still unwilling to countenance his biggest ask: A no-fly zone over his country.
“Russia has turned the Ukrainian sky into a source of death for thousands of people,” Zelenskiy said by video to an auditorium full of lawmakers, who gave him an extended standing ovation when he appeared on the screen. “And we are asking for a reply, for an answer to this terror.”
Zelenskiy spoke through an interpreter for part of his remarks but switched to English at the end. He invoked American touchstones, including the attack on Pearl Harbor and the September 11 terrorist strikes on New York and Washington.
“Remember Pearl Harbor, terrible morning of December 7, 1941, when your sky was black from the planes attacking you,” he said in his roughly 20-minute remarks. “Just remember it. Remember September the 11th.”
Zelenskiy’s unusual address from a war zone was delivered as the Russian assault on Ukraine grinds into its third brutal week and his government and the nation face an existential threat.
Ukraine’s plight and Zelenskiy’s defiance have rallied most members of the House and Senate to promises of assistance and actions against Russia. Congress last week passed $13.6 billion in emergency spending for the US response for the war — an amount that had ballooned from an initial estimate of about $6.5 billion — and lawmakers said they expected it would be just a down payment on what Ukraine ultimately will need. An Economist/YouGov poll from March 5-8 showed Zelenskiy with a 60 percent favorability rate in the US, higher than both Biden and Congress.
Zelenskiy’s plea will pressure both Congress and President Joe Biden, who will follow the Ukrainian leader’s address with remarks of his own about the assistance the US is providing. But Biden has so far rejected entreaties from Zelenskiy and from members of Congress to facilitate the transfer of Soviet-era fighter jets from Nato countries to Ukraine or establish a no-fly zone to avoid escalating the conflict to a global war between two nuclear-armed nations.
“He has strong bipartisan support to meet those needs,” Democratic Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said of Zelenskiy before the speech. “It could be missiles, it could be more of the hand-held defense systems, which appear to be extremely effective, or it could be aircraft.”
Most lawmakers, though not all, have consistently stopped short of embracing Zelenskiy’s pleas for help setting up a Nato or US-backed no-fly zone over the country.
“He’s the president of his country, he’s going to make the maximalist ask on behalf of his people, that’s to be understood,” Foreign Relations Chair Robert Menendez said. “I think it’s important for Ukraine to prevail in the national interest of the United States. I just don’t think a no-fly zone and direct confrontation is what’s necessary to do that.”
Even as there is unity in Congress for more Ukraine aid, the conflict has not lessened partisanship. Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell endorsed providing more assistance, but accused the Biden administration of “dragging its heels” in delivering it.
Zelenskiy has addressed a number of parliaments, including Canada and most notably the UK House of Commons, where he evoked Winston Churchill’s famous 1940 speech following the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk. It was an emotional plea to a packed chamber where a number of members of Parliament were visibly moved as he said: “We will not give up, and we will not lose. We will fight till the end — at sea, in the air, we will continue fighting for our land whatever the cost. We will fight in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets.”
Zelenskiy’s emotional, rousing speech should come as little surprise given his past as a performer. Only five years ago he was better known as a television comedian. As president he struggled to find his footing but as a wartime leader he’s won accolades both for his courage and firm refusal to leave his country. Reports that he refused a U.S. Offer of evacuation with the comments “I need ammunition, not a ride” went viral on social media.
As lawmakers filed in, a small group of demonstrators positioned outside the Capitol held up signs and chanted, “Negotiate, don’t Escalate” and other anti-war slogans. Most of the demonstrators were members of Code Pink, a peace organization, said Vicki Elson, one of the protesters.