Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday implored the West to recognize Russia as a “terrorist state” while urging British lawmakers to impose more penalties on Moscow and send military assistance to Ukraine.
“We are looking for your help, for the help of the civilized countries,” he said.
“We are thankful for this help … please increase the pressure of sanctions against [Russia], and please recognize this country as a terrorist state, and please make sure that our Ukrainian skies are safe,” Zelensky said, referring to earlier calls for NATO members to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
“Please make sure that you do what needs to be done and what is stipulated by the greatness of your country,” he added.
Zelensky, who has become an inspiration and symbol of Ukraine’s resistance against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s assault, spoke virtually from Kyiv. The city is under siege from Russian forces that are slowly advancing toward the Ukrainian capital almost two weeks after Moscow first launched the invasion.
He criticized NATO for refusing to implement a no-fly zone over Ukraine. The alliance has warned that doing so would risk a larger conflict and potential nuclear confrontation, but Zelensky cited civilian casualties, saying at least 50 children have been killed amid Russian shelling that has also targeted hospitals and other civilian infrastructure. He said citizens in besieged cities are running out of food and water to survive.
“Ukraine is not looking to have this war,” Zelensky said. “We are the country that are saving people despite having to fight one of the biggest armies in the world.”
The Ukrainian president projected defiance against the Russian invasion and, quoting Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” expressed the determination of the Ukrainian people to survive.
“The question for us now is not ‘to be or not to be … I can give you a definitive answer, it is definitely yes, to be,” he said, his remarks translated into English.
“We will not give up and we will not lose. We will fight till the end — at sea, in the air — we will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost. We will fight in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets,” he said.
The Ukrainian president claimed the country’s army had killed 10,000 Russian soldiers amid Moscow’s offensive, repeating a number that was reportedly announced by the Ukrainian armed forces’ general staff on Sunday.
“The U.S. assesses with low confidence Russian casualties as “somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000,” Lt. Gen Scott Berrier, of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told House lawmakers on Tuesday.
Zelensky said that Ukrainian forces had also taken Russian military captives and said that they were being treated humanely.
The Ukrainian president received two standing ovations from the members of Parliament, before and after he spoke.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke after Zelensky, and said that the U.K. will take steps on Wednesday to stop importing Russian oil, following a similar announcement made by President Biden on Tuesday.
“I speak for the whole House, when I say that Britain and our allies are determined to press on, to press on supplying our Ukrainian friends with the weapons they need to defend their homeland… to press on with tightening the economic vice around Vladimir Putin… and we will employ every method that we can, diplomatic, humanitarian and economic … until Vladimir Putin has failed in his disastrous venture and Ukraine is free once more.”
Updated at 1:44 p.m.