Zelenskyy directly challenges Biden during defiant address to Congress: 'I wish you to be the leader of the world'
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
- Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed Biden during his speech to Congress.
- "You the leader of your nation, your great nation, I wish you to be the leader of the world," the Ukrainian president said of his American counterpart.
- Zelenskyy has repeatedly pushed Biden and other leaders to do more to help Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy challenged President Joe Biden during an emotional plea to Congress for the US to do more to help Ukrainianians repel the Russian invasion.
"You the leader of your nation, your great nation, I wish you to be the leader of the world," Zelenskyy said near his address to lawmakers. "Being the leader of the world means to be a leader of peace."
According to multiple reports, Zelenskyy personally requested to address Congress, the latest in a series of speeches he's given via video link. His words to Biden were even more notable as they came during the only section of his speech that was given in English.
The two presidents have spoken frequently in the lead-up to and aftermath of Russia's invasion. Zelenskyy has lamented that it took a war for his nation to get a more direct relationship with the US.
"I can tell you the truth. It's a pity it began after the beginning of this war, but we have it," Zelenskyy said earlier this month, according to Fox News. "My appreciation to him and to his team. So we can speak now often."
Zelenskyy has not minced words when it comes to challenging the West to more. He has made repeated requests for a no-fly zone over his nation's skies even as Biden and other western leaders have rejected him over fears that such a declaration could lead to World War III.
During his Wednesday address to Congress, Zelenskyy cited Pearl Harbor and 9/11 in arguing why Ukraine needs the US and other countries to do more.
"Our country experiences the same every day," he said. "Right now, every day, every night for three weeks now ... Russia has turned the Ukrainian sky into a source of death of thousands of people."
Biden is set to deliver his own address on Ukraine later this afternoon.