Zelensky Says Ukraine Has Helped the West ‘Find Itself’

In an address to parliament, Zelensky said Ukraine has given its partners a 'historic opportunity'

In an address to Ukraine’s parliament on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in 10 months of the war, his country has helped the West “find itself again” and provided a “historic opportunity.”

“In 10 months of this year, we helped everyone. We helped the West find itself again, return to the global arena and feel how much the West prevails. No one in the West is afraid of Russia anymore and will never be,” Zelensky said, according to his presidential website.

Zelensky said Ukraine helped Europe and that now some traditionally neutral European countries are reconsidering the policy. “We helped Europe and most of the world feel that being neutral now is, pardon me, immoral,” he said.

The Ukrainian leader said that his country has given “each of our partners a unique and very important feeling and a historic opportunity — to be a winner together with Ukraine.”

He vowed that Ukraine would win the war and said that the country would advance its own weapons production and that its “military-industrial complex” would become one of the best in the world. “Ukraine and the Ukrainian military-industrial complex was and will be one of the most powerful in Europe and the world, I am sure of that,” he said.

Kyiv’s Western supporters are also hoping to see a strong Ukrainian military-industrial complex. POLITICO reported in October that NATO has a 10-year plan to help boost Ukraine’s military and arms industry to make Kyiv “fully interoperable” with the military alliance, demonstrating the West’s long-term plans for the country. 

Zelensky made the speech not long after his visit to Washington DC, where he addressed Congress and asked for more aid. So far, Congress has authorized about $112 billion in spending on the war in Ukraine, and more is expected to be approved in the future.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.