Pres. Zelenskyy speaks

And the world listens

Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke virtually to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday morning, at what was a little after 3 p.m., Ukraine time.

His speech was bookended with standing ovations from what is normally a divided Congress (and yes, Twitter was quick to find the elected officials who didn’t appear to be pay attention).

No matter. History will remember them, but only as an ugly footnote. The Ukrainian president spoke of Pearl Harbor and 9/11 (when death also rained down from the skies), and he mentioned the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. It was a speech tailor-made for its audience, and then he showed a heart-felt video that included before- and after-shots of what Russia has done to Ukraine.

Josh Campbell @joshscampbell

President Zelensky shows the United States Congress a video of his nation being destroyed by Vladimir Putin's forces, and tells America: "Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace."

What a surreal moment, the bearded president of Ukraine in his green t-shirt speaking to a group of well-dressed American politicians, and when Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said “Slava Ukraini,” what precisely would that mean to a man whose country is being bombed to hell and back? (I say this as someone who’s placed a sunflower and a Ukrainian flag next to her name on Twitter, which amounts to absolutely nothing, really.)

Nearly at the beginning of his speech, Zelenskyy again asked for no fly zone — as he’d asked earlier from Canada’s parliament — but, barring that (the U.S. has been reluctant to provide what political leaders say would be tantamount to an act of war against Russia), the president asked for more weaponry. (Hours later, Pres. Biden announced $800 million more in military aid.) He also suggested sanctioning all Russian politicians who support the invasion, and he called for new institutions and alliances to punish war criminals such as Putin, post-battle.

But, oh! That video. You see (above) happy people around the country and then the bombs hit. Plumes of smoke fill the sky, and on the screen flashes, “This is a murder.” There follows crying first-responders as they carry children through the rubble, people dead on the street, bloody children, mass graves.

Some of these images are familiar if you’ve been keeping up — and even if you haven’t — the tears, the fire. The video of that crying child, walking as if exhaustion will soon push the child over. Empty shoes. Families crying over blood-stained sheets.

After the video, Pres. Zelenskyy switched to English, and called on Pres. Biden to be the leader of peace.

“Now, I am almost 45 years old,” said Zelenskyy. “Today, my age stopped when the hearts of more than 100 children stopped beating. I see no sense in life if it cannot stop the deaths. And this is my main issue as the leader of my people, great Ukrainians.”

And then he addressed Pres. Biden:

“You are the leader of the nation, of your great nation. I wish you be the leader of the world. Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.”

Meanwhile, the United Nations International Court of Justice ordered Russia to stop its invasion. Sadly, from that Washington Post link:

The ICJ does not appear to have a viable path to enforce the decision. Sanctions could only be imposed by the U.N. Security Council, of which Russia is a permanent member and where it has a veto power. The court’s mission is to settle disputes between sovereign nations, and it cannot charge presidents or military leaders with war crimes, for example.

Slava Ukraini.