Zelenski in front of the Congress of Deputies: "it seems that we are in April 1937, in Guernica"

In the same line that he has addressed the Parliaments of more than a dozen countries, the Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenski has appeared this Tuesday by videoconference before the Congress of Deputies of Spain, comparing the recent episode in the city of Bucha with an event in the contemporary history of the country. For the United States it was Pearl Harbour, for Germany, the Holocaust, and now, for Spaniards, Guernica. 

"We are in April 2022, but it seems like April 1937, when the world learned of the attack on your town, Gernika," Zelenski said, comparing the impact of the bombing on the Biscayan town with the massacre in Bucha and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

The speech by the leader and unmistakable face of the Ukrainian conflict in Congress began more than 15 minutes late, as the president's appearance before the UN Security Council, just a few minutes earlier, took a little longer than expected. In it, Zelenski called for Russia's expulsion from the body or the reform of the veto rights of the five permanent powers. "If there is no other alternative, the next option is for them to dissolve. Because if this continues, countries will rely solely on the power of their own forces to ensure their security and not on international law, or international institutions," Zelenski told the UN's highest decision-making body. 

Thus, after the opening words of the President of Congress, Meritxell Batet, in which she expressed the full support of the Spanish citizens and the members of the lower house to the Ukrainian people, a great wave of applause welcomed the Ukrainian president. 

"Russia does not seek peace", Volodymir Zelenski stated forcefully amidst the story of the horrors faced by the Ukrainian population. "Mothers in Ukraine write on their children's backs with ballpoint pens their names and those of people close to them because if they kill their parents there is a small chance that these children will be saved," he said. 

"And the worst thing is that we do not know how long this war can last," he stressed, already after stressing that the war with Russia has not started on 24 February 2022. "Russia came to our territory with the war, and not yesterday or the day before yesterday. It was a long time ago. From 2014, from the occupation of Crimea, then with the war in the Donbas, and now with this large-scale aggression". 

The challenge to Vladimir Putin, Zelenski said, is the maintenance of peace, freedom and democracy in Europe, and he called for "stronger" sanctions against Russia. "How can we allow Russian banks to make profits while they are torturing civilians, how can European companies trade with the country that is destroying our own?"

The European Union must now "stop being afraid and be strong" to put the brakes on Russia, and, in this sense, the Ukrainian president thanked Spanish society for its support, as well as the country's companies for cutting their commercial relations with Moscow. However, he has expressly addressed others, such as Porcelanosa and Maxam, to ask them to stop doing business with Russia. 

"Slava Ukrayini. Glory to Ukraine", concluded President Zelenski, before another final ovation from the audience. 

The response from Pedro Sánchez, his Spanish counterpart, was not long in coming. "We will continue to support tougher sanctions against Putin's regime and to send military equipment," he said in response to the request for new arms shipments to Ukraine. "Ukraine's hope is in Europe, but Europe's hope today is in Ukraine, in the defence they are making of the values of freedom. Ukraine is part of the European family", Sánchez pointed out in reference to Kiev's application for EU membership. 

"You can count on Spain. Spain is and will always be with you", concluded the Spanish President, bringing to an end an act that did not last more than 30 minutes due to security issues for Volodymir Zelenski. The Ukrainian leader cannot stay in one place for more than half an hour, in addition to the possibility of connection cuts, as explained by the President of the Chamber, Meritxell Batet. 

In the meantime, the Chamber has been reorganised and dressed up to accommodate all parliamentarians - deputies and senators - as well as the President of the Government, 12 ministers, ambassadors from the European Union and NATO, the Ukrainian ambassador to Spain, and other representatives of the Ukrainian community, who have come to the Lower House to show their support for the Ukrainian people and to back President Zelenski.