Volodymyr Zelenskyjs tale til Det Europæiske Parlament

You know, over the last couple of days, I don’t know how to welcome and greet everybody because I cannot say good morning or can say good afternoon or good evening. And I cannot, and that’s true because every day for some people, this day is not good for some people this day is the last one.

I speak today now about my citizens, citizens of Ukraine who are defending each other by paying the ultimate price they are defending freedom. I’m very happy that what I’ve seen here now and heard here now, I’m very glad to sense this mood, the uniting, unifying mood. I’m happy that we have unified today, all of you, all the countries of the European Union.

But I did not know that this is the price they will have to pay. And this is a tragedy for us. for me, for every Ukrainian tragedy for our state. I mean, this this high price. Very high price. Thousands of people who were killed. Two revolutions, one war and five days of full scale invasion of the Russian Federation. You know, I don’t read off the paper off this sheet because the paper phase in the life of my country is ended.

Now, we are dealing with reality. We’re dealing with killed people, real life. You know, And, you know, I believe that we today we’re giving lives for the rights, for freedom, for the desire to be equal as much as you are. We are giving away our best people, the strongest ones, the most value based ones.

Ukrainians are incredible. And very often we love to say that we win over everyone, and I’m very happy that you are not only talking about it, but you can see that. And we indeed, we will overcome everyone. And I’m sure I’m convinced there is an expression, European choice of Ukraine that we are striving for and that’s what we’re going to and we went to.

So I would like to hear that from you to us. We could hear that Ukrainian choice for Europe from you. I have some time off here because we have breaks between the missile strikes and bombardments. And this morning was a very tragic one for us. Two cruise missiles hit Kharkiv, the city which is located to the borders of the Russian Federation.

There were always many Russians there, and they’re always friendly. There were warm relations there More than 20 universities are there. It’s the city that has the largest number of universities in our country. The youth is bright, smart there. The people who gathered there all the time and was gathering there all the time for celebration, all the celebrations in the largest square in our country, the Freedom Square.

And and this is the largest square in Europe. And that’s true. This is called the Freedom Square. Can you imagine this morning two cruise missiles hit this freedom square. Dozens of dead ones. This is the price of freedom We’re fighting just for our land and for our freedom.

Despite the fact that all large cities of our country are now blocked, nobody is going to enter and intervene with our freedom and country. And believe you me, in every square of today, no matter what it’s called. It’s going to be called as today, Freedom Square in every city of our country. Nobody is going to break us. We are strong.

We are Ukrainians We have a desire to see our children alive. I think it’s a fair one. Yesterday, 16 children were killed. And again, and again, President Putin is going to say that is some kind of operation and we are hitting a military infrastructure, where children, what kind of military factories do they work at? What tanks are they going with or launching cruise missiles?

He killed 16 people just yesterday. Our people are very much motivated. Very much so. We are fighting for our rights. For our freedoms. For life. For our life. And now, we’re fighting for survival. And this is the highest of our motivation. But we are fighting also to be equal members of Europe I believe that today we are showing everybody that’s exactly what we are.

The European Union is going to be stronger with us. That’s for sure. Without you, Ukraine is going to be lonely, lonesome. We have proven our strength. We have proven that at a minimum, we are exactly the same as you are. So do prove that you are with us. Do prove that you will not let us go. Do prove that you indeed are Europeans.

And then life will win over death and light will win over darkness. Glory be to Ukraine.

[Talen blev afholdt via video. Talen er af Ritzau transskriberet efter den danske liveoversættelse fra EU-Parlamentet]

Formand. Jeg ved slet ikke, hvordan jeg skal hilse jer alle sammen velkommen. Men god morgen, måske.

Hver dag kan for mange mennesker være den sidste dag. Og mine medborgere forsvarer nu deres land og betaler en høj pris. De forsvarer friheden.

Jeg er glad for det, jeg har set og hørt nu her. Jeg er glad for at føle den stemning om, at vi står sammen. Alle EUs lande står sammen med os.

Det er en tragedie for mig. Det er en tragedie for alle vores medborgere og for landet. Det er en meget høj pris, vi betaler. Tusindvis af mennesker bliver dræbt.

Vi har haft to revolutioner og en krig. Og nu har vi en krig kørende på femte dag. En invasion fra Den Russiske Føderation.

Jeg læser ikke længere op fra et papir, fordi papirfasen i mit lands liv er slut. Nu handler det om liv og død.

Jeg mener, at vi i dag giver vores liv for at have de samme rettigheder, som I har. Vi ofrer vores bedste, vores stærkeste. Ukrainerne er i sandhed utrolige.

Og vi siger gerne, at vi overvinder alle. Og det er jeg glad for, at I kan se. Vi vil vinde i sidste ende. 

Jeg er sikker på vores valg i Ukraine om at gå i den retning, vi går nu, og det glædede mig at høre, at vores europæiske valg bliver støttet af jer. 

Jeg har en lille pause nu her mellem missilangrebene og bombardementerne.

Denne morgen her var en tragisk morgen. To krydsermissiler ramte Kharkiv. En by, der ligger lige på den russiske grænse. Der har altid boet mange russere der. Vi har altid haft et godt forhold til dem.

Mere end 20 universiteter befinder sig der i byen. Det er den by med flest universiteter i vores land. En intelligent ungdom har vi boende der.

Man mødtes der for at fejre og for at være sammen på vores frihedsplads. Det er faktisk en af de største pladser i Europa. Vi kalder den frihedspladsen. Og to krydsermissiler ramte lige ned i frihedspladsen i morges. Dusinvis af mennesker mistede livet. Det er frihedens pris.

Men vi kæmper for at bevare vores land og vores frihed. Vi kæmper for vores frihed. På trods af at det er faktum, at alle vores borgere nu bliver spærret inde.

Men der er ikke nogen, der kan tage vores frihed fra os. Og hver en kvadratmeter vil vi i vores land fremover kalde frihed.

Der er ikke nogen, der kan ødelægge os. Vi er stærke. Vi er ukrainere. Vi ønsker, at vores børn kan leve et fornuftigt liv. I går blev 16 børn dræbt.

Og igen vil Putin kalde det en eller anden form for operation, og at de rammer militære installationer. Men hvad er for det militære installationer, som disse børn var i? Eller hvad er det for nogle kampvogne, de kører?

Vores befolkning er virkelig modig og motiveret. Vi kæmper for vores rettigheder. For vores frihed. For vores liv. Og lige nu kæmper vi for den rene overlevelse, og det er den største motivation.

Men vi kæmper også for at være medlem af den europæiske familie. Vi viser folk i dag, at det er det, vi er: europæere.

Og EU bliver stærkere med os, og uden jer vil Ukraine stå alene.

Vi har nu vist vores styrke. Vi viser vores styrke. Vi er ligesom jer. Så vis os, at I står sammen med os. Vis os, at I ikke vil svigte os. Vis os, at I virkelig er europæere.

Så kommer livet til at vinde over døden, og lyset vil overvinde mørket. Længe leve Ukraine.