Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky invoked the well-known slogan “never again” in reference to the Holocaust while addressing German lawmakers on Thursday, CNN reported.
“I address all of you who heard politicians say every year ‘never again,’ but I can see these words are worth nothing. Now, our whole nation is being exterminated in Europe, why?” Zelensky said while being firm with the German Parliament, the Bundestag, and imploring them for additional assistance.
“I address the older people among you who have survived the Second World War, who were rescued during the occupation, who survived Babyn Yar, where President Steinmeier visited last year for the 80th anniversary of the tragedy, and where Russian missiles struck,” Zelensky said to the Bundestag.
“It was there that families were killed. Again, 80 years later,” the Ukrainian president added, emphasizing and comparing the current Russian attacks to the attacks during World War II.
“You are also behind the wall, a wall that separates you from Ukrainians that are dying in Ukraine with every bomb that is landing on our land,” Zelensky said, while also evoking images of the past Soviet occupation of East Germany and the Berlin Wall.
“This is a country that brought to Europe the wall. What is behind this wall?” asked the Ukrainian leader. “This is the foundation for the new wall. This looks like politics to many, but these are the stones for the new wall.”
“We asked you what Ukrainians should do to become a part of NATO, but you kept telling us there was no decision like this on the table, at the table, like there was no chair for us, and now you’re still waiting, and delaying Ukraine joining the EU,” Zelensky continued, criticizing what he called as a lack of action by the European Union.
Zelensky also slammed Russia, describing to the Bundestag how bad things were in Ukraine: “They’re just shelling everybody. The theater where hundreds of people hid was blown up yesterday. The maternity hospital was bombed before that. This is happening around the clock. They’re not letting any aid into the city of Mariupol … they’re not allowing any chance of survival for the people.”