Russia has plunged Europe back in time, turning it into a continent where there are filtration camps, deportations, and hatred, where "cities are destroyed and villages are burned," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on June 7 in an address to the French parliament.
This is "Russia’s new cult," Zelensky said. "It is the opposite of liberty, the opposite of equality, the opposite of fraternity, and the opposite of Europe. Anti-Europe, that is what (Vladimir) Putin represents."
"We live in a time when Europe again ceased to be the continent of peace," Zelensky said.
Zelensky arrived in France on June 6 for the commemorations of the 80th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, together with U.S President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
"I am confident that the day will come when Ukraine will be able to see in its skies the same aircraft that we saw yesterday in the skies of Normandy," Zelensky told the French parliament.
"Your combat aircraft, your brilliant fighter jets in the hands of Ukrainian pilots will prove that Europe is stronger than the evil that dared to threaten it," Zelensky said, referring to French President Emmanuel Macron's announcement on June 6 that France would deliver Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets to Ukraine.
Beyond Europe, Russia "has already been destroying Syria and sowing chaos in the Sahel," Zelensky added.
Russia "invests in terror and undermines life wherever it can reach. Wherever it meets no resistance."
"It has brought back to the 21st century the entire arsenal of the past – from a maritime blockade to the mass abduction of our people's children from the occupied territories to re-educate them to hate their homeland."
Zelensky also addressed the topic of diplomatic solutions to the war, saying that Ukraine has "never relied only on the power of weapons," but has "always cared about diplomacy."
"Putin rejected a diplomatic solution by launching a full-scale war and choosing to try to commit genocide of Ukrainians instead of a dialogue with Ukraine. This is his choice. We need the unity of the world to overcome it," Zelensky said.
Zelensky pointed to Ukraine's initiative to organize the global peace summit in Switzerland next week as a format that could "bring a just end to this war."
German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported earlier on June 7 that Zelensky is expected to address the Bundestag during a visit to Berlin on June 11.
While Zelensky has previously spoken in the Bundestag via video connection, this would be the first time he would speak to the German parliament in person.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
