At 12:00′ noon on Thursday, April 7, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky was connect online with the Hellenic Parliament. The special, extraordinary session of the Plenary Session of the Hellenic Parliament was attended by the Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, as well as the leader of the main opposition party Syriza, Alexis Tsipras.
New Democracy, SYRIZA and KINAL are the parties that had a positive attitude towards the hosting of the Ukrainian president by the Parliament. The Greek communist party KKE, the Hellenic Solution were opposed, while MERA25 maintained a contradictory stance, with a partial “no”.
The procedure opened by the Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Tasoulas, with a short address. Volodymyr Zelensky’s speech in Ukrainian followed, with simultaneous translation. Mr. Zelensky’s speech lasted about 15-20 minutes, which applies to all of his live connections with parliaments around the world..
The galleries of the Greek Parliament remained closed and it was not possible for the public to watch Zelensky’s speech, as long as no invitations were distributed. Zelensky’s speech was also attended by the Ambassadors of Ukraine, Cyprus and France (due to the French Presidency of the EU) as guests of the Parliament.
It is recalled that the invitation to speak to the Greeks was addressed by the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis during the telephone conversation he had with the Ukrainian president on the day of the Greek national holiday of March 25. Volodymyr Zelensky immediately accepted the proposal and included the Hellenic Parliament in his program of online appearances.
Later in the evening the Ukrainian President will address the Cypriot Parliament where analysts are waiting to see if he will mention the obvious similarities of the Russian invasion to Ukraine with the Turkish invasion to Cyprus or if he will try to avoid it in order not to jeopardize his good relations with Turkey and President Erdogan.
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The highlights of Volodymyr Zelensky’s speech:
– We will win, together. Glory to Ukraine.
– We will rebuild Mariupol, where Greeks and Ukrainians will live together.
– The Russians did everything they could to offend the whole of Europe, using their fuel and causing energy market deficits.
– Let us not accept that Mariupol will be the Thermopylae where some heroes died.
– We must drive the Russians out of Ukrainian territory. For the barbarians who make war to understand that they will lose.
– Ukraine has remained standing and at this moment we must save what we Greeks and Ukrainians have created.
– We will not allow them to destroy our common cultural heritage.
– Liberty or death was said by the Greek fighters of 1821. This is what we say today.
Zelensky showed videos with Greek-Ukrainians fighting in Mariupol. One of the Greek-Ukrainians who spoke, asked for humanitarian aid for Mariupol.
– The Russians must be held accountable for what they did.
– The Russians destroy Mariupol. This has not happened in Europe since World War II. There are still 100,000 people in Mariupol. Most of the buildings have been destroyed.
– The millennial coexistence of Greek Ukrainians is a given. Even our currency shows the connection with Greece. Ukraine is one of the orthodox countries that was Christianized by the Greeks.
– Russian troops hit civilians following a plan.
