Zelenskyy Channels Churchill for British Parliament

March 9, 2022 (EIRNS)—Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, dressed in an army T-shirt, channeled Winston Churchill yesterday during a video address to the British House of Commons. “We will not surrender, we will not lose, we will go to the end,” he said in a carefully choreographed speech in which he also called for Russia to be named a “terrorist state” and for allies to “make sure our skies are safe,” to cheers and a standing ovation. The adulation came from both Labour and Conservatives. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Zelenskyy had “moved the hearts of everybody” watching, and pledged to “press on with tightening the economic vise” around Russian President Vladimir Putin. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also praised “the bravery [and] the resolve” of the Ukrainian President and his people, adding: “He has shown his strength and we must show him—and the Ukrainian people—our commitment and support.”

The night before, Zelenskyy appeared in an interview on ABC News with David Muir, during which he lobbied for more direct U.S. involvement in Ukraine, but this time tailored to an American audience. This included painting Ukraine as at the frontlines of a fight for the whole of Western democracy. “Many things depend not just on us,” Zelenskyy told Muir. “Today, the war is here. Tomorrow, it will be in Lithuania, then in Poland, then in Germany. This is serious.”

When asked about American concerns about enforcing a no-fly zone over Ukraine, as Zelenskyy has repeatedly demanded—which would run the immediate risk of unleashing a shooting war between the U.S. and Russia—Zelenskyy responded by claiming that Russian forces had bombed a pediatric clinic and a university. “You have to preserve lives,” Zelenskyy told Muir. “We will come first, you will come second, because the more this beast will eat, he wants more, more and more.”

“We are not far from you,” he said in English, directly to the American people.