Ukraine holds each lines and will never surrender
powerful words last night from Ukrainian President
Vladimir Zelenskyy as he addressed Congress on capitol
hill. In the historic speech, Zielinskyy said, there
will be no compromises in trying to end the war. He
also thanked us for helping Ukraine fight off the
Russia invasion. Yesterday the administration announced
A new $1.8 billion high-powered missile sy
Zelenskyy emphasized the bond between Ukraine and us
saying the two countries are allies and urged lawmakers
not to ignore Russia's actions. Our two nations are
allies in this battle next year will be a turning
point. I know it the point when Ukrainian courage an
American resolve must guarantee the future of our
common freedom, the freedom of people who stand for
their values. Zelenskyy went on to say that Ukraine
will never surrender to Russia and that U. S. Support
is really crucial to getting to the turning point of
the war correspondent Simon Marks is live in Washington
D. C, with more on Zelenskyy's visit. Simon, what
the key takeaways from Zelenskyy address to lawmakers
last night. Well, I think uncompromising is exactly
way to describe the speech that President Zelenskyy
made before that joint session of Congress last night
made all the more remarkable by the fact that, you
know, 36 hours earlier, we had no idea that it was
going to take place. The wraps kept on this
extraordinary visit by the Ukrainian leader on the
3/100 day of Russia's war against Ukraine almost unti
the very last minute. But present Zelenskyy was at
pains last night to reach into american living room
and thank american taxpayers for the support that this
country has provided him support. Without which he
clearly indicated Ukraine would have had a much tougher
path through the course of the last several months of
war. He also sought to use the bully pulpit on Capitol
Hill to woo members of Congress and to try and persuad
them that the relate Between Washington and Ukraine
needs to be cemented into place, especially given th
fact that the US believes that Russia is planning a
major springtime offensive against Ukrainian forces
once the long Ukrainian winter comes to an end. So his
message to Congress was that all of the money that has
been spent, including the $1.8 billion dollars in
assistance unveiled only yester is money well spent.
Your money is not charity, it's an investment in the
global security and democracy that we handle in the
most responsible way. Now. The reaction to that in the
chamber was uproarious applause from the vast majority
of members observing the speech. But it was notable
that a group of republicans including congressm
Gates and Congresswoman Lauren bo Bart from the right
of the Republican caucus sat on their hands and indeed
for most of the speech, we're looking at their cell
phone Rather than paying any attention to the Ukrainian
leader and that is an indication of the battles that
are to come on Capitol Hill after January the third
when the 118th Congress is sworn in. And of course
Republicans will have a slim majority in the House of
Representatives, with some of them vowing to block any
further expenditure on Ukraine. Zelenskyy met with
President Biden earlier in the day. What do you know
about what the two leaders talked about? Well, the
Biden encounter was very interesting because once it
was over, it lasted about two hours inside the Oval
Office. And of course, President Zelenskyy was also
meeting other key members of the President's national
security team. But once it was over, they held a joint
press conference and for all the talk that President
Biden had offered. When President Zelenskyy first
walked into the Oval Office about the unshakable bon
between the United States and Ukraine and basically
telling the american people that they needed to be
ready to stand by Ukraine throughout 2023. In the
subsequent joint press conference, it became apparent
that there is some daylight between the Ukrainian
leader and the American president over the issue of
whether a negotiated peace settlement will soon be
possible with regard to Ukraine. President Zelenskyy in
his speech before Congress went on to say that it would
be now naive to think that the Russians are ready for
any kind of a negotiated settlement at the pr
conference, he said he couldn't imagine what a just
peace would look like in Ukraine, given the terrorist
actions that Russia has engaged in on Ukrainian soil.
But President biden waded into that section of the news
conference and insisted that the Ukrainian leader,
President Zelenskyy himself, do indeed seek peace. We
both want this war to end. We both want it to end. And
as I've said, uh, it could end a day if Putin had any
dignity at all and did the right thing and just said
pulled out. But that's not gonna happen now. That, of
course, is the same american president who earlier
month, flanked by french President Emmanuel Macron said
for the first time that he would be willing to meet
Vladimir Putin face to face if necessary, to advance
the prospects of a negotiated peace in Ukraine.
Everyone seems to agree that the prospects for that are
still a very long way away. But in their respective
presentations yesterday, Presid biden sounded much
readier for the prospect of eventual negotiations than
Vladimir Zelenskyy did. Alright correspondent Simon
Marks reporting live from Washi D. C. For us this
morning. Thank you