WASHINGTON: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to US lawmakers for a no-fly zone to be imposed over his war-torn country or, barring that, for Washington to send fighter jets. “Russia has turned the Ukrainian sky into a source of death for thousands of people,” he said in a live-streamed address to the US Congress from Kiev. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nearly three-week bombardment of the country “is a terror Europe has not seen for 80 years,” he said.
Zelensky said that if a no-fly zone was “too much to ask for,” then the United States should send him fighter jets “to defend our people.”
“The destiny of our country is being decided,” he told senators and representatives in the speech, which referenced Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, 9/11, Martin Luther King, Jr, and Mount Rushmore.
The United States and other Nato powers have repeatedly rejected the suggestion of a no-fly zone over Ukraine, arguing it could lead to a wider war with Russia.
Zelenskiy received a standing ovation before and after his remarks, with House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi introducing him with Ukrainian words meaning “glory to Ukraine.” At the conclusion of his remarks, Zelenskiy waved over the video feed and put his hand on his chest in thanks for the reception.
— Reuters