In a video address to the German Bundestag on Thursday, Selenskyj recalled the division of Germany during the Cold War. Chancellor Olaf Scholz then promised Kyiv further support, but at the same time confirmed: “NATO will not intervene militarily in this war.” You can see the most important statements from Zelenskyj’s speech in the video:
Selenskyj was greeted by the members of the Bundestag with a standing ovation. In his ten-minute speech, he emphasized that people in Ukraine should live freely and not submit to another country. “You are kind of behind the wall again, not Berlin Wall, but in the middle of Europe, where there is freedom. And this wall is stronger with every bomb that falls on our soil in Ukraine,” Zelensky said.
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“destroy this wall”
“Dear Chancellor Scholz, destroy this wall. Give Germany the leadership role that Germany deserves,” the Ukrainian President alluded to the famous speech by US President Ronald Reagan in 1987 in front of the Brandenburg Gate. At the time, Reagan had asked the Soviet head of state Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall”. The Brandenburg Gate is in the immediate vicinity of the Reichstag building, which was surrounded on three sides by the wall built by the communist rulers of East Germany between 1961 and 1989.
Scholz thanked Selenskyj on Twitter “for his haunting words in the Bundestag”. “We see: Russia carries on its cruel war every day, with terrible losses. We feel obliged to do everything so that diplomacy has a chance and the war is ended.” In a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Scholz emphasized: “We stand with Ukraine.” Stoltenberg referred to ongoing support for Ukraine, which includes arms shipments. “Germany is making its contribution here and will continue to do so,” he emphasized.
Ukraine had presented the German government with a long list of heavy weapons it wanted for defense against Russia. These include main battle tanks, fighter planes and warships. So far, Germany has sent, among other things, bazookas and anti-aircraft weapons. In doing so, she moved away from her decades-long policy of not supplying weapons to war zones.
Selenskyj had previously spoken to the MPs’ conscience. In his country, civilians and soldiers are indiscriminately the target of Russian attacks. “Russia is bombing our cities and destroying everything in Ukraine. Houses, hospitals, schools, churches, everything. With rockets, with air bombs, with artillery. In three weeks, thousands of Ukrainians died. The occupiers killed 108 children in the middle of Europe, here in 2022,” said Zelenskyj. And: “Again attempts are being made in Europe to destroy the entire people.”
“Ukraine will be in the EU”
In his speech, Zelenskyi also emphasized his country’s determination to join the European Union. “Ukraine will be in the EU,” he said. He was critical of Western policy towards Russia in the run-up to the war, specifically naming the long adherence to the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline and the refusal to admit the country to NATO. Germany helped build a wall to isolate Ukraine and extradite Russia, he criticized.
Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt expressed her horror at the Russian war against Ukraine and assured Kyiv of Germany’s solidarity. “We see you, our thoughts are with you and with those who mourn you,” said the Green politician. The parliamentary session started with a slight delay. There were technical problems because there was “an attack in the immediate vicinity” in Kyiv, said Göring-Eckardt.
Dignified moment?
The way Göring-Eckardt proceeded to the agenda after the speech caused controversy. She congratulated two MPs on their birthdays, which was considered by Union MPs with heckling as “unworthy”. “Today was the most undignified moment in the Bundestag that I have ever experienced,” wrote the CDU foreign politician Norbert Röttgen on Twitter on Thursday. The CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz called the rejection “completely inappropriate” and the former Left Party chairman Bernd Riexinger “embarrassing”.
The opposition parties had requested a debate on the speech, which was rejected by the traffic light groups. “We, the traffic light coalition, are convinced that the words of the Ukrainian President stand for themselves. They deserve to be taken seriously,” said Katja Mast, the parliamentary secretary of the SPD parliamentary group. Opposition leader Friedrich Merz had called for a debate about: “Where do we stand, did we do it right, there may be decisions that need to be corrected.” However, the Union application was only supported by the left and the right-wing populist AfD.
Source: Nachrichten
