Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy accused Russia of trying to destroy his country and warned that Moscow is on the path of self-destruction. Zelenskiy has pleaded for Canada and its allies to do more to stop the Russian invasion of his country, including establishing a no-fly zone as civilian casualties mount.
‘How many more cruise missiles need to fall on our cities?’ he asked in a televised address to Canada’s parliament, adding that 97 children had been killed so far. Zelenskiyy said his country is fighting for life against tanks, planes and mortars that Russia is using to destroy Ukraine.
‘But Russia is also destroying itself. Every shot against Ukraine, this is a step that Russia takes to destroy itself, to self-isolate … everybody leaves Russia now, all who can think,’ he said in the video message, reports The Guardian. Programmers, businessmen, and artists are leaving Russia, he said and claimed that the country has never experienced such a blow to the human capital for decades. ‘This doesn’t worry us, it is not our problem. Our issue is to preserve ourselves, our people.’
Speaking to a standing ovation, Zelenskiy asked lawmakers and the Prime Minister to imagine major Canadian cities and landmarks under attack. Zelenskiy thanked Canada and European nations for providing weapons and humanitarian aid, which has been critical in blunting the Russian attack. Ahead of the speech, Canada’s House of Commons was tightly packed with lawmakers, their families and members of the public. dozens of parliamentarians were dressed in yellow and blue and wearing ribbons in support of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said the invasion of Ukraine created ‘a new security reality’ in Europe and spoke about the need to reset the military future of NATO in line with this reality. ‘We will also consider major increases to our air and naval deployments, strengthening our integrated air and missile defence, reinforcing our cyber defences and holding more and larger exercises,’ he said.