President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy receiving a standing ovation from the Government benches after his address to Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy receiving a standing ovation from the Government benches after his address to Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell
EDITORIAL
It could be said it was quite a speaking fee. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered an address to New Zealand’s Parliament yesterday, with the Government responding with an additional $3 million of humanitarian aid.
Having previously spoken to other parliaments including in the UK, US, European Union, and Australia,Zelenskyy began with a greeting of “kia ora” before outlining a request for New Zealand to take the lead in pressing for peace.
“Today, this anti-war coalition has more than 100 countries, those who support the fundamental principle of international law and the UN charter,” he said. “Those who do everything possible to hold Russia’s war criminals accountable.”
He acknowledged New Zealand as one of the first countries to support Ukraine after Russia’s invasion and he noted it had imposed sanctions.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern stands to hear President of Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy address Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell
“Let me offer you one more thing, various dictators and aggressors - they always fail to realise that the strength of the free world is not about someone becoming large or becoming full of missiles but in the fact that everyone knows how to unite and act decisively and make a unique contribution to the common cause.
“Perhaps the time has come for your country to make such a unique contribution.”
Zelenskyy noted, in particular, New Zealand could lend its voice to oppose the “ecocide” of his country as the war continued to irreparably damage the Ukraine environment.
As an illustration of the plight of Ukraine, the environment is the eighth of 10 points Zelenskyy cited as needing urgent attention. Radiation and nuclear safety make number one, and the withdrawal of Russian troops is number six on the list.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, is one of the most worrying flashpoints in Russia’s occupation of Ukraine. Russian troops shelled the massive plant in March, setting fire to one of the facility’s six reactors. That reactor was under renovation and not operating, but there was nuclear fuel inside.
Smoke rising from fires at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine. Photo / AP
The G7 bloc of industrial powers this week pledged to back Zelenskyy’s requests for more military requirements in aid of Ukraine’s defence and to support his call for a Russian withdrawal for Christmas.
That prospect looks highly unlikely, with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week stating the conflict is “going to take a while”. This most open concession of failure so far to dominate the neighbouring territory was followed by warning of an “increasing” threat of nuclear war. The current Russian strategy is targeting infrastructure, particularly energy sources,
More military ordinance will head to Ukraine in the coming weeks from the G7 nations of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. As this deployment rolls, the potential for Russia to raise the nuclear weapon option rises, as well as the possibility of a non-nuclear strike on Zaporizhzhia, or any of the other 16 nuclear reactors across four nuclear power plants in Ukraine.
New Zealand’s continued focus on humanitarian aid, while applying sanctions and joining the process for a resolution, is no small contribution.
For the people of Ukraine to once again know peace, they must first of all survive.
