Moved parliamentarians, words for history and a war that continues to dominate French political debate. Eighteen days before the presidential election, the intervention before the national representation of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, Wednesday, March 23, recalled that the war in Ukraine would mark the electoral campaign, perhaps until the end. “Tomorrow will be a month of Ukrainians fighting for their freedom,” a déclaré M. Zelensky.
From the Palais-Bourbon to the Palais du Luxembourg, deputies and senators gathered in large numbers in their respective hemicycles listened for fifteen minutes to the speech, both solemn and martial, of the President of the Ukrainian Republic. Camped behind his office, in kyiv, and dressed in his eternal khaki military T-shirt, the blue and yellow flag of Ukraine at his side, Mr. Zelensky called elected officials to witness but also, through them, the all French citizens on the war waged by the Kremlin. Between several references to French history and culture, the Ukrainian president asked for support in armament equipment.
Above all, he called on French companies still present on the Russian market, such as Renault (which decided to suspend its industrial activity in Russia on Wednesday evening March 23), Auchan and Leroy-Merlin, to leave it. “They must stop sponsoring Russia’s war machine,” a dit M. Zelensky.
His speech – which was sometimes made difficult to understand by the simultaneous translation – was preceded by an introductory speech by the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, then by the President of the National Assembly, Richard Ferrand. “Ukraine belongs to the European family”, hailed the first, when the second condemned “indiscriminate bombardments targeting civilian populations”. Several rounds of applause and a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the conflict punctuated this unprecedented moment, also marked by the presence of the Ukrainian ambassador in Paris, Vadym Omelchenko.
An additional step in this unprecedented tour of Western parliaments, started by Mr. Zelensky the day after the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine on February 24. The European, British and Canadian parliaments, then the American Congress, the Bundestag, in Germany, the Knesset, in Israel, the Italian and even Japanese parliaments yesterday and today… The Ukrainian president thus addressed all the elected representatives of the G7 member states.
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