Standing ovations in Congress these days aren’t what they used to be: the annual State of the Union is little more than an applause-fest peppered. But there was a rare exception last night in the House of Representatives when congressmen on both sides of the aisle joined together to welcome Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Washington DC on his first overseas visit since Russia’s invasion in February.
Sporting his trademark khaki sweater, Zelensky told Congress and the American people that Ukraine is ‘alive and kicking’ and ‘will never surrender’. He pledged there would be ‘no compromises’ in trying to bring an end to the war and that aid to Ukraine is ‘not charity’ but rather an investment in global security. ‘This struggle will define in what world our children and grandchildren will live and then their children and grandchildren,’ he said, before presenting Congress with a flag given to him by the defenders of the frontline city of Bakhmut.
Zelensky’s speech followed a press conference with his American counterpart Joe Biden, who pledged that the US will continue to back Ukraine in its fight against Russia for ‘as long as it takes’. Biden told reporters that ‘American people are prepared to have us stand up to bullies, stand up for freedom. That’s who we are’ and that Ukraine has ‘defied Russia’s expectations at every turn… together we will keep the flame of liberty burning bright.’
Biden also said of Zelensky in his famously mangled rhetoric that ‘this guy has, to his very soul, is who he says he is’ – a sharp contrast to what the President said of Putin back in 2011: ‘I don’t think you have a soul.’ Given the mood music of the DC love-in, talk about soul sisters eh?
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