Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

From Churchill to Pearl Harbor, Zelenskiy’s speeches push the right buttons abroad

Analysis: Ukrainian leader’s addresses to foreign legislatures focus on each country’s history

To MPs in London, he channelled Churchill and Shakespeare. To the US Congress, he evoked Pearl Harbor and 9/11. For the Bundestag it was the Berlin Wall; for Canada’s lawmakers, their large Ukrainian community. MEPs in Brussels were reminded of Ukraine’s place in the continent’s family of nations.

Each of Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s addresses to western legislatures has contained historical references carefully chosen to appeal to the audience; each has been greeted with a standing ovation. If he found domestic fame as an actor and comedian, it is the Ukrainian president’s talent as an orator that has won him foreign acclaim.

I have a need': Zelenskiy invokes 9/11 in powerful address to US Congress – video


Speaking by video to German MPs on Wednesday, the 44-year-old leader again displayed his habitual mix of passion, pride and defiance; of brutally vivid portrayals of his people’s suffering; direct, straight-from-the-heart entreaties for more help; and inspiring invocations of common ideals and shared pasts, presents and futures.

But it is his references to each country’s history – and suggestion that this could all be happening to them – that have hit hardest. “Dear Mr Scholz, tear down this wall,” he implored Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, echoing former US president Ronald Reagan’s 1987 plea to his Soviet counterpart Mikhail Gorbachev from a divided Berlin.

Russia, Zelenskiy said, was now building “not a Berlin Wall, but a wall in central Europe between freedom and bondage, and this wall is growing bigger with every bomb that lands in Ukraine”. Germany’s own history, he said, meant it owed it to Ukraine’s to back the country’s push to join the EU.

‘Thirteen days of struggle’: Zelenskiy’s address to UK parliament in full – video


Thousands had already died, he said in his address, including 108 children. “And we’re talking about the middle of Europe, in the year 2022,” he said, before adding, in another pointed historical reference: “Once again, attempts are being made to annihilate an entire people.”

In a speech to MEPs on 1 March that brought one interpreter close to tears, Zelenskiy said Ukrainians were literally fighting for a European future. “Thousands of people killed, two revolutions, one war and five days of full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation” is a “very high price” to pay for EU membership, he said.

“We have proven our strengths,” he said. “We have proven that, at a minimum, we are exactly the same as you are. So do prove that you are with us, do prove that you will not let us go. Do prove that you indeed are Europeans.” Freedom Square in Kharkiv, the target of a recent fatal attack, could have been any plaza on the continent, he said.

For British MPs in London, Zelenskiy echoed the wartime words of Winston Churchill and invoked the fight against nazism, telling a packed chamber: “We will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost. We will fight in the forests, the fields, the shores and in the streets.” Ukraine “will not lose” to Russia, he vowed.

The president also cited Shakespeare to describe his country’s plight. “The question for us now is to be or not to be,” he said. “Oh no, this Shakespearean question. I can give you a definitive answer. It’s definitely yes, to be … Just the same way you once didn’t want to lose your country when the Nazis started to fight you.”

Ukrainian president urges Canada to help enact no-fly zone – video


He asked Canadian lawmakers on 9 March to imagine the impact of such a war on their own country, demanding directly of the prime minister, Justin Trudeau: “Imagine that [at] 4am … you start hearing bomb explosions. Justin, can you imagine – you and your children hear all these severe explosions?”

He reminded Canadians that 1.4 million people of Ukrainian descent live among them, the largest Ukrainian diaspora outside Russia, and days after the TV tower in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, was struck by a missile, asked: “Can you imagine the famous CN Tower in Toronto if it was hit by Russian bombs? This is our reality in which we live.”

In a virtual address before both chambers of the US Congress on Wednesday, Zelenskiy also invoked key events in the country’s history, including the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor and the 11 September 2001 terror attacks.

“Just like nobody else expected it, you could not stop it,” he said. “Our country experienced the same, right now, at this moment, every night, for three weeks now.” Citing the civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King, he added: “‘l have a dream’ – these words are known to each of you today. I have a need, a need to protect our sky.”

According to Ukrainian officials, Zelenskiy’s speechwriters produce a first draft from which he freely departs as he speaks. Some of his appeals, – notably for a no-fly zone, which Nato and the EU will not consider for fear of provoking direct conflict with Russia – may not have produced results. But none have fallen flat.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Trump Backs Putin’s Land-for-Peace Proposal Amid Kyiv’s Rejection
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
United States Sells Luxury Yacht Amadea, Valued at Approximately $325 Million, in First Sale of a Seized Russian Yacht Since the Invasion of Ukraine
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
Germany Enters Fiscal Crisis as Cabinet Approves €174 Billion in New Debt
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Mediators Edge Closer to Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Agreement
Germany Seeks Taliban Deal to Deport Afghan Migrants
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
×