Touching speech by the Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska in the US Congress. Here are some key moments🧵
📷 Reuters
📷 Reuters
"Today I want to address you as politicians and party representatives. And also as mothers and fathers, grandfathers and grandmothers, daughters and sons. I want to address you not as the first lady, but as a daughter, as a mother."
Olena Zelenska mentioned 4 y.o. Lisa who was killed by a Russian missile attack in Vinnytsia. 5 y.o. Eva who died under the rubble in Ochakiv. Visitors of the shopping mall in Kremenchuk who are no more alive. And many other Ukrainians who were killed or wounded by Russia.
"We are grateful that the US stands with us in the fight for our shared values of human life and independence. You help us very powerfully. While Russia kills, America saves. And you should know it. We thank you", said Zelenska.
"I'm asking for something now that I never wanted to ask for", said the Ukrainian first lady. "I am asking you for weapons. Not to wage war on someone else's land, but to protect our home and the right to wake up in it alive".
Zelenska specifically asked for air-defense systems. "So that missiles do not kill children in their strollers. So that they do not destroy children's rooms and entire families".
"The US, unfortunately, knows what terrorist attacks are and always strives to defeat terrorism. Help us stop the terror against Ukrainians - and this will be our joint victory - in the name of life, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness of every person, every family" - Zelenska.
The first lady concluded: "This is what I am asking and my husband is asking for it - not as a presidential couple. But as parents and as children of their parents. ... I hope you heard me today. And I hope that your decisions will be quick".
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