As his soldiers fought over the trenches and devastated cities of eastern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared in person for the first time on Thursday before European Union leaders and made an impassioned claim that his country’s war with Russia is also Europe’s struggle. used to be.
Mr Zelensky described Russia as “the most anti-European power in the modern world”, and told the European Parliament that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a threat to the European way of life. “We Ukrainians are on the battlefield with you.”
European lawmakers received Mr Zelensky’s speech with thunderous applause and welcomed the president in Brussels after his trips to London and Paris. The tour was only the president’s second trip outside Ukraine since Russia crossed its borders nearly a year ago and put Mr. Zelensky, a comedian before winning the 2019 election, in the role of wartime president.
Since then, with increasing Western aid in the form of arms and cash, Ukraine has driven Russia from the capital Kyiv, and recaptured thousands of square miles in the northeast and south.
But the pace of fighting has slowed over the winter and has been largely concentrated in eastern Ukraine, where Russia has ordered waves of troops in a bloody campaign to exhaust Ukrainian troops. And Russia has continued to bombard cities and facilities with powerful missiles, damaging critical infrastructure across the country.
Mr Zelensky’s focus on Thursday, in a meeting with the leaders of all 27 EU member states, was not the longer-range missiles and planes he had been chasing in London and Paris earlier on his trip. Instead, he called on financial aid to guide and rebuild his country, and political support to give it hope.
He renewed his push for Ukraine’s speedy accession to the European Union, although joining the bloc of aspiring members normally takes more than a decade of work. Brussels, the Belgian capital, is home to most of the European Union’s main institutions.
The trip marked a key moment in Mr. Zelensky’s efforts to maintain international support as the war enters its second year. Politicians, civil servants, staffers and the news media lined the steps and balconies of the European Parliament and applauded Mr Zelensky as he walked through the labyrinthine building to address a packed room.
The Ukrainian leader was visibly moved when the Ukrainian national anthem was played in parliament, holding his hand over his heart. He then pushed his case for EU membership, claiming that his nation was fundamentally European – and that Europe’s fate was tied to Ukraine’s.
“This is our Europe,” Mr Zelensky told lawmakers. “These are rules. This is our way of life.”
He called the road to the European Union “a way home” for Ukraine. “I’m here to defend our people’s way home.”
In his remarks, Mr Zelensky also claimed that Ukraine had discovered a Russian plan to “establish their control over” Moldova. He said that Ukrainian intelligence had obtained a Russian document outlining “a detailed Russian plan to undermine the political situation” there, and that he had informed the president of Moldova.
Moldova’s Security and Intelligence Service confirmed it had received information from Ukraine and said “subversive activities had been identified to undermine, destabilize and violate public order in the Republic of Moldova”.
The agency declined to provide more details, citing “ongoing operational activities”.
Mr Zelensky told lawmakers that this activity was “nothing new” to Russia, whose officials were not immediately available for comment.
And as he has done in many of his previous speeches to leaders abroad, Mr. Zelensky called for continued support for Kiev.
He thanked Europe for its support for Ukraine, including military aid, sanctions against Russia and its efforts to withdraw from Moscow’s energy supply. But he also called on his allies to do more, including opening talks this year to ensure his country becomes the bloc’s bloc. newest member.
“The fundamental steps have been taken,” he said. “But the road is long.”
Unlike some of his other speeches to world leaders, including EU rallies, over the past year, Mr Zelensky’s tone during the personal appearance was friendlier than previous video-streamed remarks in which he sometimes mentioned countries he thought were not did enough to help Ukraine.
The shift was a sign that his goal in Brussels was not only to call for faster entry into the bloc, but also to show his appreciation for the support he has already received.
In a press conference following his speech, he thanked the European people for continuing to support Ukraine despite the costs, including by hosting millions of Ukrainian refugees. The majority of governments are firmly behind Ukraine, but many are also concerned about continued public support against a background of recession and historically high inflation.
“I hope you understand that when you help Ukraine, you help yourself,” Mr. Zelensky said. “I would like to emphasize that it is in the interest of all of us, not just Ukrainians, but all Europeans, that Russia does not make new missiles, that Russia does not attack our cities.”
But the Russian economy has so far weathered sanctions from Europe and the United States and made up for lost trade with Europe by shifting oil exports to Asia. And by mobilizing hundreds of thousands of recruits in the fall, the Kremlin has beefed up its defenses and gone on the offensive again, according to Ukrainian officials and military analysts.
Some of the most intense fighting in recent days has been reported around the eastern city of Kreminna, a small but vital piece of land in the eastern Donbas region. Serhiy Haidai, the head of the regional military administration, said on Telegram on Thursday that the number of attacks in the area had increased significantly, although he insisted that Ukrainian troops were holding out.
“The Russians are trying to gain success in the direction of the Kreminna, to penetrate our defenses, but without success,” he said.
The Russian efforts in Kreminna also suggested that Moscow was trying to stretch Ukrainian troops, which have been scrambling to hold back Russia’s advance on Bakhmut, a city 30 miles to the south. Analysts say Kreminna could be strategically more important than Bakhmut, as it serves as a gateway to three larger cities in the west and southeast.
“The enemy is deploying the maximum amount of manpower, equipment and artillery to break through our defenses,” Yuriy Fedorenko, a Ukrainian commander, said on television this week. But he said Ukrainian troops met the Russian artillery with counter-battery fire.
To continue to hold off the Russian offensive – and to mount their own counterattack in the coming weeks or months – Mr Zelensky and the Ukrainian military commanders say they urgently need more from their Western backers. Their wish list includes longer-range artillery to attack Russian supply lines, fighter jets to secure the country’s airspace, and more main battle tanks to counter the Kremlin’s newfound manpower.
During a visit to Paris on Wednesday evening, Mr. Zelensky to President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany that the sooner Ukraine gets more powerful weapons, “the sooner this Russian aggression will come to an end and we can return to peace in Europe.”
Matina Stevis Gridneff reported from Brussels, and Marc Santora from Kiev, Ukraine. Monica Proncuk contributed reporting from Brussels, and Neil MacFarquhar From New York.