“You know us Ukrainians well, we never wanted war.”
(Photo: IMAGO/ZUMA Press)
Rome When Ukraine’s president appears on the screens in the Italian parliament, all the deputies rise from their seats. Volodomir Zelenskiy is sitting at his desk, wearing an olive-green shirt, with the Ukrainian flag to his left. “Our people have become an army,” he says, and then enumerates how much his country is suffering. “117 children have been killed in Ukraine so far.” There are thousands injured, hundreds of thousands of companies destroyed, millions of abandoned houses.
“Some of the Ukrainian cities are completely destroyed, like Mariupol,” says Zelenskiy. There is nothing left there, only ruins. “Mariupol is the same size as Genoa. Imagine Genoa, completely burned.” Kyiv is as important for the region in Eastern Europe as Rome is for the world. “We have sirens here every day, bombs fall every night.”
The consequences of the war are felt in many regions of the world, not just in Europe. “How can we keep growing food while the enemy is shooting at us?” Zelensky asks. The country cannot export corn, oil or grain. “You know us Ukrainians well, we never wanted war.”
Prime Minister Mario Draghi: Italy wants Ukraine in the EU
Selenski also expresses his thanks to Italy. The country has “opened its hearts and its doors” to the Ukrainian people. The war has now lasted 27 days. “We need more sanctions, we need more pressure.”
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Standing applause again after twelve minutes. Four women parliamentarians have put on yellow jackets in solidarity with blue trousers or skirts. Unlike in the German Bundestag, where at the end of last week the order of the day was quickly dealt with and the Zelenski speech was left in the background of parliament, the head of government immediately took the floor.
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Mario Draghi rises from the government bench, where his entire cabinet is gathered, and addresses Zelensky: The resistance of all Ukrainian places where “Putin’s cruelty strikes is heroic”. Ukraine is not only defending itself, but also “our peace, our security”. Draghi wants to show Ukraine a way to get closer to the EU more quickly. “Ukraine must be safe, free and democratic.”
The accession process is long and reforms are needed. But his country stands by Zelenski’s side, Draghi explains clearly: “Italy wants Ukraine to join the European Union.”
The aim is not only to help the refugees find a place to stay, but also to get them into work in order to integrate them into society. On the subject of sanctions, Draghi points out that Italy has already frozen “more than 800 million euros in assets” belonging to Russian oligarchs.
Pro-Russian parties are involved in the government
Contrary to what was feared before the speech, very few seats in Parliament were vacant. Sections of the right-wing Lega and the majority of the left-wing Five Star Movement (M5S), which are also part of Draghi’s broad coalition, are seen as particularly pro-Russian. Five years ago, Lega boss Matteo Salvini even had his picture taken with Putin’s likeness on Red Square in Moscow. The right-left coalition between the M5S and the Lega, which governed Italy for a good year from the summer of 2018, followed a very Putin-friendly course.
However, the party leaders seem to have managed to close the ranks before the Zelenskiy speech. Ex-Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, head of the Five Stars, had stated that the party’s position was very clear: “unlawful military aggression” needed the “strongest condemnation”. Salvini also asked his colleagues again the day before the speech: “Everyone in the auditorium.” It apparently worked.
More: Zelensky calls for resistance and calls Russian military “tourists with tanks”