London, March 8, (PA Media/dpa/GNA) – Ukraine President, Volodymyr Zelensky, invoked British war leader Winston Churchill in an emotional address to the parliament, vowing to fight to invade Russian troops in the air, sea and on the streets.
In a speech to the House of Commons that was greeted before and after by standing ovations, Zelensky repeated his call for a no-fly zone to be established by the West, begging for Britain to “make sure that our Ukrainian skies are safe.”
The historic address came shortly after Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, announced Britain will phase out the import of Russian oil and oil products by the end of the year, as part of a ratcheting up of sanctions on Moscow for the attack, which was launched on February 24.
Elsewhere, there has been frustration at the slow progress in processing Ukrainian refugees, with Defence Secretary Ben Wallace offering military support to the Home Office, to help deal with the backlog of people trying to get into Britain.
During his address to the Commons, Zelensky, who is said to have to keep his whereabouts a secret due to the threat of assassination in Kiev, appealed to MPs by quoting from Shakespeare and paraphrasing Churchill.
In a nod to one of the former British prime minister’s most inspiring speeches of the war, Zelensky said: “We will fight until the end, at sea, in the air. We will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost.
“We will fight in the forest, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets.”
He also pressed home the desire of Ukrainians for their independence to continue, despite their homeland being under attack by Kremlin forces, with a line from Hamlet.
“The question for us now is to be or not to be,” he said, in a translation by Parliament TV.
“Oh no, this Shakespearean question. For 13 days this question could have been asked but now I can give you a definitive answer. It’s definitely yes, to be.”
The embattled president said Ukraine faced a similar dilemma to the one Britain encountered in World War II.
He said the current conflict, in which he said 50 children had been killed, was akin to when Britain “didn’t want to lose your country when the Nazis started to fight your country and you had to fight for Britain.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who received a personal thanks from Zelensky for his support, told the Commons after the speech that “never before in all our centuries of our parliamentary democracy has the House listened to such an address.”
“In a great European capital now within range of Russian guns, President Volodymyr Zelensky is standing firm for democracy and for freedom,” Mr Johnson said.
GNA