Press Office
Athens, 7 April 2022
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenksyy addresses Hellenic Parliament
In the presence of the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the Hellenic Parliament via teleconference, following an invitation by the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
The President of the Hellenic Parliament Constantine Tassoulas addressing the Ukrainian President stressed that Greece and Ukraine are linked with unique historical ties. “Hellenism” he said “has been present in the Black Sea region since antiquity, and the Greek community of Ukraine is concentrated mainly in beleaguered Mariupol. It has been severely tested by the Russian bombings and mourns victims.”
The President of the Parliament underlined the continuous appeals by President Zelenskyy that “the power of the UN Charter must be restored immediately” and that “Russia must respect International Law”, adding: “Greece and Hellenism with which you communicate all day today, in Athens and in Cyprus, has for at least 5 decades now been claiming the very same things, both for reasons of inviolable principles and for reasons of defending our national rights. The northern part of Cyprus has since 1974 been under Turkish occupation.”
Closing his introductory statement, Mr Tassoulas pointed out that: “Fate has made it so that you not only lead your country in this difficult time, but in your person freedom is confronting its enemies and Greece, which 200 years ago declared and won the war for its freedom, and where precisely 81 years ago today in the trenches of Macedonia in northern Greece our country heroically resisted against the powerful hordes of the 3rd Reich, this very Greece, Greece itself, here today in its national delegation welcomes you and stands honestly by your side until the final victory!”
The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy began his address by referring to the strong ties between Greece and Ukraine, focusing on the tragic conditions in Mariupol. “For over a month now, every morning, I start with Mariupol, with information on what is happening in this Ukrainian city, which the Russian troops are destroying. This has not been the case of European history after all the years during all the years after WWII. We have never seen a city being reduced to ashes, completely flattened, the city being completely under siege, residents are killed by hunger and thirst. It used to be a city of half a million of population, there are still about 100.000 people still left in the city, but there is virtually no building left undamaged. The absolute majority of buildings have been utterly destroyed. Russian military were destroying everything, they were bombing hospitals, a maternity hospital, residential buildings have been gutted. They even bombed the city theatre”.
Referring to the relations between Ukraine and Greece, Mr Zelenskyy noted: “Ukraine is one of the largest orthodox countries and the light of baptism was brought by the Greeks. And if someone tried to break the Greek roots in Ukrainian history and culture, that means we would lose a fundamental part of ourselves. Just as for you, as this in fact very essential matter for your history and your national self-perception and, exactly, this is how we are so interconnected. “Freedom or Death”, those are the words that reflect not only our struggle against Russia’s attempt to destroy Ukraine. This is part of your identity, which comes from our Odessa and another southern city of Ukraine which Russia could try to destroy as well as they have done to Mariupol. When your Foreign Minister was last week in Odessa, the city was experiencing the consequences of Russian shelling. Yet another missile attack was launched.”
Continuing with references to the Greek diaspora, Mr Zelenskyy underlined: “Filiki Etaireia was created in our Odessa and it played such a role in the history of your state, which cannot be overestimated and I call on you now openly to create such a new union of friends which will be able to save Ukrainians and Greeks in the South of Ukraine, which will help Mariupol. This city needs humanitarian aid, this city needs rescue. We need to save people, those who are wounded and still live there. Russia has been blocking Mariupol since the beginning of March, on land and on the sea. The Russians do not even allow the basic humanitarian cargo to be delivered to the city and I’m sure that the strength of Greece will help us to realise the mission.”
Summing up, Mr Zelenskyy focused on the European sanctions, saying that “… no Russian bank has the right to earn money in the world financial system. They need to be blocked, all of them must be blocked, and not only some of them, and while this senseless and brutal war goes on, no Russian ship should have the possibility of entering any port in the democratic world. Why should we help them? So that they make even more money for producing their missiles and bombs, to destroy not only Mariupol, but also other Ukrainian cities. And first of all, we should not give any support to Russian tankers, those oil tankers which provide Russia with a constant flow of money for war. Ukraine needs weapons in order to force the Russian troops to leave our country. We, in particular, need anti-aircraft defence systems, artillery systems and projectiles, we need armoured vehicles and other things that everyone in the West knows very well and the sooner we receive this help, the more lives we can save in Ukraine.”
The Ukrainian President expressed his conviction that “we will be able to bring peace to Ukrainian land, we will be able to bring to justice all those guilty of war crimes against Ukrainians, against Greeks, and against all other people who have become victims of the Russian army. We’ll be able to rebuild Mariupol and all other Ukrainian communities where Ukrainians and Greeks will live in peace and respect for each other as it has always been in the past.”
Halfway through his address, the President of Ukraine gave the floor to two Ukrainian fighters of Greek origin, who, as he pointed out, described the tragic situation in Mariupol and requested Greece’s assistance.
In his closing statement the President of the Parliament C. Tassoulas stressed: “We thank the President of Ukraine, Mr Zelenskyy, for his moving address to the Hellenic Parliament and through the Hellenic Parliament to the Greek people and I want us to assure him that the Hellenic Parliament will fulfill its duty so that the aid that Greece is providing to his country will increase. Because by helping Ukraine we help freedom. Long live Ukraine, long live freedom.” ***
The following were present during the Ukrainian President’s address: the Head of the Main Opposition Alexis Tsipras, the Head of the Parliamentary Group of Movement for Change (KINAL) M. Katrinis, members of the Cabinet, New Democracy MPs, SYRIZA MPs, KINAL MPs and a representative of the DiEM25 Parliamentary Group. The address was also attended by the Ambassador of Ukraine Sergii Shutenko, the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps Kyriakos Kenevezos, the Counsellor of the French Embassy in Athens Nicolas Croizer, representing the French Presidency of the EU Council, the Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic Ambassador Vassilios Papadopoulos, the Secretary General of the Parliament George Mylonakis, the Parliament’s Diplomatic Advisor Ambassador Constantine Economides and the Diplomatic Advisor of the Prime Minister Ambassador Anna-Maria Boura.
***The excerpts from the speech of the Ukrainian President and the interventions of the Ukrainian fighters of Greek origin are the transcripts of the live interpretation and have not been directly translated from the original.
Attached you will find the speeches of the President of the Hellenic Parliament and the President of Ukraine in Greek, the speech of the President of the Hellenic Parliament in English and French, as well as the interventions by the two Ukrainian fighters of Greek origin in Greek.
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