Zelensky tells the Bundstag that Russia is building “a wall” in Europe with its offensive against Ukraine

Archive – President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky – SERGEY STAROSTENKO / XINHUA NEWS / CONTACTOPHOTO

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He calls on Scholz to “destroy this wall” and “give Germany the leadership role it deserves”

BERLIN, 17 (DPA/EP)

The President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, stated this Thursday during a videoconference speech in the German Bundstag that Russia is building “a wall” in Europe with the attack that began on February 24 against the country and has demanded more support from Berlin.

“You are trapped behind a wall”, Zelensky said, drawing a parallel with the Berlin Wall and the Cold War, although he stressed that this wall “is much stronger” and prevents other Europeans from seeing the suffering in Ukraine, according to the German news agency DPA.

“In a way, they are behind the wall again, not the Berlin wall, but in the middle of Europe, where there is freedom. And this wall is stronger with each bomb that falls on our soil in Ukraine,” the president lamented. ukrainian

In this regard, Zelensky has asked the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, to “destroy this wall” and “give Germany the leadership role it deserves”, while denouncing that Russia is carrying out indiscriminate attacks against military and civilians since the beginning of the offensive.

“Russia is bombing our cities and destroying everything in Ukraine. They are houses, hospitals, schools, churches, everything. With missiles, with aerial bombs, with artillery. In three weeks many Ukrainians have died, thousands. The occupiers have killed to 108 children, in the middle of Europe, with us in 2022”, he pointed out.

“Again, in Europe they are trying to destroy an entire people,” he said. On the other hand, she has called on Germany to support kyiv’s request to join the European Union (EU) and has charged against Berlin for delaying the cancellation of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which directly connects Russia and Ukraine. In this sense, he has criticized that all Ukrainian requests to abandon the project before the invasion received a single answer: “Economy, economy, economy”.

Bundestag MPs stood up before the speech and applauded Zelensky, who appeared on a video screen, as he has done before in the US Congress and the European Parliament.

The Russian military offensive began on February 24 after the order given by the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, who days before had recognized the independence of the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, located in the east of the country and the scene of a conflict since 2014.