Annotated Transcript: Zelensky’s Speech to Congress

WASHINGTON — President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine made an urgent and searing appeal to Congress on Wednesday to come to his country’s aid as it fights off a devastating Russian invasion, casting the war as a battle for the cause of democracy itself.

Using stark, often stern language, Mr. Zelensky delivered a remarkably direct call to action by a wartime leader, as he made the case that aiding Ukraine was a moral imperative for a country that has promoted itself as the beacon of freedom and democracy for the world.

Mr. Zelensky mostly spoke through an interpreter as he addressed lawmakers on a large screen in a movie theater-style auditorium under the Capitol. Wearing his standard military-issue green T-shirt and seated next to a Ukrainian flag, he briefly stopped his remarks to show lawmakers a graphic and wrenching video featuring images of his war-torn country, including bombs exploding in cities, and civilians, including young children, bloodied and killed by Russian attacks.

Here is a transcript of Mr. Zelensky’s remarks, with additional context on key passages:

Zelensky invoked American traumas to bolster his case

Mr. Zelensky sought to place his country’s moment of peril in historical context for members of Congress by recalling two events that are seared in the American consciousness, drawing specific parallels to times the United States was assaulted by air, as Ukraine is now. It is a strategy that he has turned to often in recent weeks as he works to rally support for his cause amid the Russian onslaught.

When Mr. Zelensky spoke before Britain’s House of Commons last week, he invoked Winston Churchill, likening the Russian attacks on Ukraine to England’s “darkest hour” during World War II.

The comparisons are aimed at illustrating the stakes of the conflict for Ukraine, and to persuade policymakers around the globe that they should regard it as among the gravest challenges that the world has faced.

‘I have a dream.’ A freighted request for a no-fly zone.

A key request that Mr. Zelensky has brought up repeatedly is for American support to close the skies over Ukraine. He has also pleaded with NATO allies to impose a no-fly zone — a move the allies have said would essentially begin World War III — but has been rebuffed.

In the speech, he grounded his plea for such measures in the language of the American civil rights movement and a famous speech by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., effectively comparing his struggle to protect his nation to the fight for racial justice in the United States.

Knowing that America would not answer that particular call, Mr. Zelensky instead pivoted, asking for powerful antimissile defense systems, such as the S-300. Ukrainian officials have also requested armed drones and communication equipment, which the United States has not yet provided. Washington has sent other arms to Kyiv, including antiaircraft Stinger missiles and antitank Javelin missiles. The Biden administration earlier this month sent a $350 million package of arms and equipment to Ukraine, and on Wednesday, it announced an additional $800 million tranche.

Mr. Zelensky has previously requested that the United States help facilitate the transfer of Polish MIG fighter planes, but noticeably did not name them on Wednesday, after the Biden administration rejected the request.

He bluntly asked for help: ‘I call on you to do more.’

Mr. Zelensky is trying to strike a balance between expressing gratitude for the military and humanitarian support Ukraine has received from the United States — including a $13.6 billion package approved by Congress last week and signed into law by Mr. Biden on Tuesday — and making clear that it is not enough. He is also playing on a fraught dynamic between the White House and Congress.

For weeks now, lawmakers in both parties have pressed the Biden administration to take more aggressive steps to help Kyiv and counter Moscow, including imposing a ban on Russian oil and gas and sending more aid. In his speech, Mr. Zelensky essentially sided with members of Congress who have called for a more robust American effort, trying to prod Mr. Biden to step up his response.

He called for sanctions to be imposed on “all politicians in the Russian Federation” and said additional packages of sanctions should be approved “every week.”

Most Republicans and Democrats have been more than happy to rush aid to Kyiv, with their moral outrage at the situation in Ukraine eclipsing any qualms they might have about the cost or effectiveness of certain measures. Mr. Zelensky’s call to action appeared to have resonated with lawmakers, who emerged from his address pledging to send even more money and weapons.

Zelensky cast U.S. support as a moral imperative.

Calling on America’s own image of itself as the leader of the free world, Mr. Zelensky argued that the United States had a moral duty to help defend Ukraine — indeed, any democracy under siege — even though it is not a member of NATO.

The appeal carried both emotional and patriotic overtones for members of Congress, and was a passage of his address cited by several lawmakers afterward.

Mr. Zelensky’s talk of dying from natural causes echoed comments he made in recent meetings with European allies and members of Congress, in which he noted it might be the last time they saw him alive, a jarring assertion that some lawmakers privately said unsettled and moved them.

Mr. Zelensky delivered the bulk of his speech in Ukrainian, using an interpreter. But after he showed a graphic video of scenes from his war-torn country, including bombs exploding in cities, and civilians bloodied and killed by Russian attacks, he concluded in English.

Lawmakers had already been listening intently, but the combined effect of the video and Mr. Zelensky’s direct appeal, in his own voice, had a palpable effect on his audience.

“There was a collective holding of the breath,” said Senator Angus King, independent of Maine.

He said Ukraine was fighting ‘for the values of Europe and the world.’

Mr. Zelensky has cast Ukraine’s battle to protect itself from Russia as a fight for the cause of democracy, and in his speech to Congress, he argued that every democratic nation — but especially the United States — had a stake in that fight. He framed the conflict as a historic struggle for “justice,” hinting at an assertion he has made more directly in recent days — that if he is successful in vanquishing Ukraine, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia will push further into Europe next, turning to the Baltics.

He concluded his speech on a deeply personal and emotional note. reminding lawmakers of how young he is to be bearing such a tremendous burden, and how deeply his people, including children, have suffered. He laid out the issue simply and starkly: his people are dying, and he needs help to stop it.

Finally, he addressed Mr. Biden by name in remarks that may have been aimed as much at lawmakers and the American public, urging him to fulfill his role as leader of the free world by doing more to help Ukraine. He appeared to be inviting lawmakers to join him in pressing Mr. Biden into greater action — and in the hours after his address, many did.

Mr. Biden, who held a news conference several hours later to detail additional military aid his administration was sending Ukraine, said he had watched Mr. Zelensky’s address from the White House