Scandal over Ukrainian president Zelensky’s speech | DW News

Scandal over Ukrainian president Zelensky’s speech | DW News

We Begin tonight with the president and a plea to help his people today Ukrainian President Vladimir zalinski addressed the German Parliament after attending a conference to gather support for rebuilding Ukraine he made an urgent appeal for help rebuilding a power grid that’s been battered by Relentless Russian air strikes he also urged lawmakers to keep standing behind ke standing ovations in the parliament of one of you Ukraine’s biggest supporters while the situation on the ground in Ukraine remains critical the Ukrainian president expressed his hope for victory to German lawmakers some may have the impression that Putin is going to be there forever and there will not be an end to the war but that is not the case it’s an illusion it’s an illusion that can be destroyed by leadership and decisions and the successes we will jointly achieve together with you Germany and Ukraine will always be grateful for this he also issued a stark warning against making peace with Vladimir Putin if somebody were to try Putin would always destroy any hope of coming to an agreement Parliament was well attended though many members of the leftist BSW and the far right afd boycotted the spe Beach due to their pro-russian sympathies solinsky’s Parliament address followed a conference in Berlin focusing on Ukraine’s reconstruction this could potentially be financed by Frozen Russian assets if leaders reached an agreement zalinsky did not end the day empty-handed he secured a promise of additional German ammunition for Ukrainian weapons this pledge was made as he visited Ukrainian troops in Germany where being trained on Surface to a patriot missile systems they are crucial to enable Kev to locate and shoot down Russian missiles which is also what makes them a Target Germany has delivered two so far and pledged to send one more too few for zalinski if it’s possible to bring to Ukraine more equipment to defend assistance I will support for now Germany will only deliver additional missiles for the ones already in Ukraine and joining me here in the studio now is ogga stefanina she is the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro Atlantic integration of Ukraine it’s good to have you with us let me start by just asking you about this conference um is it living up to your expectations well thank you so much I mean uh it’s fantastic that ahead of the G7 meeting and a beast Summit president zansky this day in Berlin this conference has a very particular angle and uh this has targeted to reach the goal of unlocking the private Investments and Investments and Loans to private companies in Ukraine which is a key to financing the defense sector in Ukraine the key driver of Ukraine’s economy this is the first time since the beginning of the fullscale war where we bring this incentives to every part of Ukraine and it’s very important ahead of the G7 meeting when the uh decisions on granting the sustainable financial support to be held but I will uh start by by quoting Chancellor schz over his opening statements today today is the best recovery is the recovery which is not needed that’s why of course everybody are concentrated to mobilize necessary efforts to air defense in Ukraine Germany has become a major weapon supplier to Ukraine do you have any reason to think that that could change well I think uh I think no and and my my um position is having a serious background because a number of consultations had because of the security commitment signed but also because of a serious political commitment to be undertaken over the G7 meeting and uh and the upcoming NATO Summit the stronger role on securing the financial and Military Support of the global players will be held and um set in the documents and Germany has the biggest interest in that as you’ve said as the major military supporter Ukraine and the major Finance contributor to that I want to ask you about um nato in just a moment today president zalinski he addressed the German Parliament and there there was a sizable number of lawmakers who boycotted his speech um lawmakers from the far right um from a populist party who were quoted as saying he is beggar zalinski he’s he’s come here to escalate the war and asking us to use our tax money to pay for welfare for Ukraine refugees I mean these are lawmakers these are people who speak for certain parts of German Society um how does that make you feel I think there are still many things boiling as the European elections has just ended a couple of days ago so there there’s a fresh energy to to make uh to make different statements but the practice we we really have to judge not by statements by by the actions and the actions are following that German from every region of it is now represent Ed at the recovery con conference and hundreds of agreements has been signed at different levels and Germany and German companies German people has become the larger supporters of Ukraine so so we really pull the line between statements and actions and actions speak in favor of supporting the democracy and the freedom which we are now fighting for let me ask you about your job and your title is Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro Atlantic integration I mean in plain English that that means EU membership and NATO membership those are the goals right um how how are you doing in the job well I’m I’m I’m pretty I’m pretty good and I’m really proud of being in a position where um I uh in charge of the accession process not only the integration but the actual accession and we’re ahead of a couple weeks far from making the decision to start the actual accession talks and I’m particularly proud that it was a personal position of the chancellor and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to put a specific angle to this conference uh related to German lead on Ukraine’s accession talks it’s not the case for the NATO part whereas there is still a a lot of hesitation in Germany and uh but uh a part of it we’re preparing a number of very practical decisions for uh Washington Summit and Germany’s backing them up you speaking of Washington I have to ask you since I have you here you know there is a US presidential election this year and it is possible that we could have a second Donald Trump presidency um he has made it known that um he’s not the biggest fan of NATO um and he he said that if he were president in 24 hours the war between Ukraine and Russia would be over does does that keep you up at night that possibility well uh everything well first of us Russian missile attacks are keeping us up at night and uh um uh the light that we have only at night to keep us up at night because we can do the laundry and do our house stuff at night so this what keeps us up at night at the same time again we’re judging by by actions and as I remember president Trump has been urgently calling on a a stronger European effort to to invest in the in the European Defense and I really see that this is happening with the new European commission which will boost European Defense industry so I’m sure that there will be a lot of solid ground for his messages let me ask you before we let you go um what what would be your message to people here in Europe Western Europe and also in North America who say that they are suffering from Ukraine war fatigue that the war is grinding their nerves it’s getting old what’s your message to them I understand but despite all of this tire tiredness and and depression I’m really grateful to to every citizen of every country who has backed up its government and Parliament to support Ukraine to to support our uh our resilience and our ability to live in our country but also to support those ukrainians who had to flee the war and find their shelter in in the in the European capitals so we are grateful to everybody who remembers about Ukraine and speaks about that that’s very important Olga Stephanie Sheena we appreciate you taking the time to talk with us and all the best to you and come back and talk with us again thank you so much thank you Russia’s invasion is now in its third year and and there are no signs of a ceasefire on the horizon but Ukraine’s shattered energy grid can’t wait people need power and as zalinsky told the German lawmakers today his people their soldiers need more weapons too here is part of zelinsky’s speech before Parliament earlier today do you and I have any aim other than peace no do we have any other Continental dream besides a peaceful Europe no do we have any other Duty than to protect our people our Europe and the rules-based international order no but Russia has different goals and dreams Russia is standing alone against all of us so we all have to force Russia to change and it is possible because there is no wall that cannot be brought down our leadership and the will of ukrainians should work for the sake of peace for the sake of Europe for the sake of life and so it will be Europe will be a continent without War well I’m joined Now by Kira rudik she’s a member of the Ukrainian Parliament she’s leader of the political party holos in ke Kira it’s good to have you back on the program you know we’re we’re talking about this conference that’s taking place here in Berlin um about reconstruction and I mean that it’s personal for you right because you were telling me that you’ve you’re actually in the middle of a power outage in keev right now hello Bren thank you so much for having me yes indeed uh same as many of my fellow ukrainians throughout the country right now we are experiencing energy outages we have uh been experiencing them for uh a month right now since Russian brutal attacks destroyed the majority of our um energy production and as of right now there is no quick fix uh for that and we can only rely on our partners to provide additional defense for us and provide additional capacities of energy so that we can survive through the summer but most important that we can survive through the winter and and and you and I were able to talk tonight you were telling me because you you’ve got a what a diesel generator giving you electricity right now right right uh it’s actually not something that every Ukrainian can have but because I’m living in the home I can have diesel generator uh and uh uh have some support for uh my internet and for some lights but actually it’s very tough uh everywhere and we are only purchasing diesel generators for hospitals and kindergartens to make sure that our critical infrastructure still has an ability uh to get electricity when needed you know and considering the realities that you and your fellow ukrainians are facing I want to ask you about something that happened here today in Berlin um a sizable number of lawmakers from the far right and and the populace left they boycotted the speech that was given by your president president zalinsky today in front of the German Parliament and they even said that zalinski is a beggar asking for weapons and Welfare what do you think when you hear comments like that well uh you know I’m an oppositional party leader and I can tell you more than anyone that president is a legitimate one and we have heard Russian narratives uh trying to diminish him and uh trying to break our Unity that we have had since the beginning of the fulls scale Invasion we as a country have one goal to survive and to win the war and for that we have one president and it is volir zalinsky and he is representing our country right now in Berlin I want to make it very clear that political Ambitions right now do not matter for us we need uh to get through this very simp simple thing to stay alive to have uh ability to defend our homes and to have ability to provide to our people and this is why it’s very upsetting when we hear uh about such things from fellow law makers from from Germany we know that people Germans mostly support us and we hope that uh lawmakers represent people who support us C Germany is a major weapon supplier to Ukraine now do you have um any reason to think that that could change you know uh we we have gone through since the beginning of the full scale Invasion through many with many NOS from many of our Alles but right now we think we are at the point where we can get uh long-term trust and long-term agreements on on getting us the necessary weapons ammunition and we see from Germany that this is what going to happen we have a security agreement and we hope that uh certain political changes that uh that may happen that it wouldn’t influence uh ability to support Ukraine in our fight at least this is our high hopes kir you and I we’ve spoken many times we’ve talked about your your hopes of of your country joining the European Union euroskeptic political parties far-right parties they are gaining ground in France Italy Austria and here in Germany the the original core of the European Union is now home to political forces that think that the EU is part of the problem not the solution I know you’ve dedicated your political career to anchoring Ukraine firmly in the west hopefully in the EU what goes through your mind when you see what is happening right here I think people are scared they do not have a good solution to the questions like security and future and I think it’s very important to um operate with the facts when you are talking to people and when you’re building your political career again here in Ukraine we are the living proof of the importance of the unity and you that you can only fight for your future and see any kind of future if you are surrounded by their lives and if you are acting together and I want everyone who is concerned who is afraid to hear this we here are saying that it you can only survive if you’re acting together so let’s stay together figure out the issues that may arise but move forward to get together I don’t see any other way Kira rudik with that I think um we can say thank you and as always we appreciate you taking the time to talk with us and um we wish you all the luck with your power and um I hope that you don’t have to rely on the diesel generator for much too longer thank you

For the third time since the start of the Russian war of aggression, supporters of Ukraine have gathered in Berlin for a reconstruction conference. According to the German government, the meeting of more than 2,000 participants from over 60 countries is intended to present a longer-term and broader perspective for Ukraine, which should increasingly include social and societal reconstruction. On the economic front, the main objective is to mobilize private companies and private capital. Reconstruction cannot be financed by public funds alone.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a speech in the German Bundestag. But a sizeable number of lawmakers from the far-right and populist left boycotted the speech.

Chapters
00:00 Zelenskyy in Berlin for Ukraine Recovery Conference
02:29 Olga Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for EU Integration
08:56 Part of Zelensky’s speech before parliament
10:26 Kira Rudik, Member of Ukrainian Parliament

#ukrainerussiawar #ukrainerecovery #volodymyrzelenskyy

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