"Our people became the army when they saw the devastation the Russian army leaves behind." So the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in Parliament he began his speech by videoconference to the deputies and senators gathered in Montecitorio. An intervention welcomed by a long applause and standing ovation even if some parliamentarians have decided to desert. After the words of the Ukrainian president, the Italian premier Mario Draghi spoke in Parliament and reiterated his support for the Ukrainian people: “Ukraine has the right to be a free and democratic country. Italy is with you President Zelensky”.
A dramatically historic passage in our country. Before today, only two heads of state had addressed the parliamentarians gathered together, the King of Spain Juan Carlos during a visit to Rome in 1998 and Pope John Paul II in 2002. Today the Ukrainian president tried to raise awareness among Italian parliamentarians to commit itself more to supporting Ukraine against the Russian invasion, as it had already done in recent days with the parliaments of Germany, Israel, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as the European Parliament. Unlike these interventions, he did not return to request a no fly zone but to increase sanctions and pressure towards Russia.
Zelensky in Parliament: "Russia stop this war"
In his message, Zelensky thanked Italy for the aid (including at a humanitarian level) sent to its people but that Ukraine has seen the "evil that the enemy brings, how much devastation it leaves in how much bloodshed. A week ago there were 79 children killed in Ukraine: today they are 117", calling them "the price of procrastination" by other countries in stopping the war.
Zelensky then spoke of the dramatic situation in Ukrainian cities, some completely destroyed like Mariupol, which had half a million inhabitants. “Mariupol completely burned down after three weeks, a city as big as Genoa. THEImagine your Genoa destroyed“Zelensky said in Parliament. The Russian invasion "is destroying families, we have thousands of wounded, hundreds of thousands of lives destroyed, houses abandoned, the dead in mass graves and in parks". And that "Kiev needs to live in peace, a continuous, eternal peace, as Rome and any city in our world must have". But in Kiev "every day sirens are heard and bombs and missiles fall", said the Ukrainian president.
Zelensky in Parliament reiterated that the Russians' goal is not only his country but that he wants “Europe, to influence your lives, have control over your politics and the destruction of your values. Ukraine is the gate for the Russian army, they want to enter Europe but barbarism must not enter”.
And what is needed “doing everything possible to ensure peace”. Then he accused Putin: "This is a war created over decades by a single person, who earned a lot of money from oil and gas exports" and now uses it to finance the war," said Zelensky.
Then the Ukrainian president recalled Ukraine's closeness to Italy: “The Ukrainians have been close to you during the pandemic, we have sent doctors and the Italians have helped us during the flood. We appreciate it very much but the invasion has been going on for 27 days, almost a month”. Zelensky then went on to request "more sanctions, more pressure". Russian officials and oligarchs “use Italy as a place for their holidays, you mustn't welcome these people. You have to freeze real estate and accounts, seize yachts and freeze the assets of those in Russia who have the power to decide,” Zelensky said. "You have to support the sanctions and the embargo against Russian ships in your ports – he continued – you must absolutely not allow exceptions to the sanctions for any Russian bank”.
Draghi to Zelensky: "We are ready to do much more"
“On behalf of the government and myself, I want to thank President Zelensky for his outstanding testimony. Since the beginning of the war, Italy has admired the courage, the determination, the patriotism of President Zelensky and of the Ukrainian citizens”. Prime Minister Mario Draghi began at the conclusion of Zelensky's speech in Parliament.
"Your people have become your army, the arrogance of the Russian government has clashed with the dignity of the Ukrainian people which is holding back the expansionist aims of Moscow and placing very high costs on the invading army". “Italy – he added – is at Ukraine's side, it won't look the other way. Italy wants Ukraine in the European Union“. This is because, explained the Prime Minister, “we want to outline a path of greater proximity of Ukraine to Europe: it is a long process made up of necessary reforms. Italy is alongside Ukraine in this process”.
With regards to sanctions, Draghi reiterated that the sanctions agreed together with the European and G7 partners have the objective of inducing Moscow to establish a ceasefire and to sit seriously, but "above all with sincerity", at the negotiating table. "So far, these sanctions have hit Russia's economy and financial markets hard, as well as the personal fortunes of those closest to President Putin." As for the freezing of Russian assets, Draghi recalled that in Italy more than 800 million euros have been frozen to Russian oligarchs” close to Putin.
On the humanitarian front, however, the Italian Prime Minister underlined that they have been allocated in the Decree approved on Friday new funds for Ukrainian reception, "we want to help refugees not only to have a home but also a job and to integrate into our country," Draghi explained to Zelensky. “In the face of Russia who wanted us divided, we were united as the EU and the Atlantic alliance – he added -. We must offer welcome to those fleeing the war, in the face of massacres we must respond with aid, including military aid, to the resistance". In conclusion, Draghi said that aid to Kiev will not end here but that "we are ready to do much more".
