Volodymyr Zelenskyy Addresses Congress in Wartime

After Russia's invasion in February 2022, American support combined military assistance, sanctions, and coordination with allies. Biden said the United States would help Ukraine defend itself while avoiding direct American combat against Russia in Ukraine. [1] [2]

Volodymyr Zelenskyy carried a Ukrainian flag from Bakhmut into the House chamber on 21 December 2022. Soldiers had given it to him the previous day. Ten months into Russia’s full scale invasion, he had come to thank Americans for weapons and financial assistance and to describe what Ukraine still lacked. [2]

Zelenskyy said Russian forces around Bakhmut held an advantage in artillery and ammunition. He described damage to Ukraine’s energy system from missile and drone attacks and warned that families faced Christmas without electricity, heat, or running water. He asked for more support while insisting that Ukrainians would do the fighting themselves. [2]

Invoking Saratoga and the Battle of the Bulge, he placed Ukrainian resistance alongside familiar American wartime struggles and urged both parties to see its success as a matter of American security. Near the end of the address, he presented Congress with the flag the soldiers had sent from the front. [2]

Related Diplomats

1. Oksana Markarova [3] [4]

Related Reading

• Ukraine and the United States