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ARTICLE

Our unity must and can stop the evil – address by the President of Ukraine at the session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
President of Ukraine Official Website
9 October 2023 - 13:30
https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/nasha-z-vami-yednist-maye-j-mozhe-zupiniti-zlo-vistup-prezid-86193

Dear Mr. President of the Assembly and dear Mette, Madam Prime Minister of Denmark,
Ladies and gentlemen!

We live in times when evil is trying to open a chasm between all of us and our desire for peace – our common desire!

This chasm is growing every day. It is deepened by terror. And the more blood and pain there is in different parts of the world, the more countries are destabilized by evil, the more losses nations suffer, the more people find themselves in the midst of the rising tide of new migration and other crises, the more difficult it will be to maintain international order – a rules-based order. The only thing that can guarantee peace and serenity to all nations – rules, international law.

We see who in the world is trying to replace the power of international law with the horror of blood and disasters. We see whose deliberate investments in terror are destroying the lives of different peoples in a vast area from Belarus to Mali.

We see this. And we must act. United!

These days, our attention is focused on the Middle East. No one can ever forget what the terrorists did in Israel. Thousands of missiles against peaceful cities. Shooting people in cars on the roads. Men, women, children. No one was spared. Streets covered in blood. Hostages. The terrorists themselves gave the world footage of the atrocities, and were proud of them. Women who were beaten. Elderly people who were kidnapped from their homes. Abducted children. And we do not yet know how many people were captured and brutally taken away by the terrorists. They even tried to humiliate the dead by mocking their bodies.

We saw all of this in Israel.

And the Israelis themselves – Israeli journalists who were here in Ukraine, who were in Bucha, are now saying that they saw the same evil where Russia came. The same evil, and the only difference is that there is a terrorist organization that attacked Israel, and here is a terrorist state that attacked Ukraine. The intentions declared are different, but the essence is the same. You see it. You see the same blood on the streets. You see the same civilian cars shot up. You see the same bodies of people who have been tortured.

And the most dangerous are two things. First: the shocking joy of state-backed Russian propagandists. Just imagine – they call children who are now being held hostage by terrorists in Gaza as trophies. Such a word. Just as Russia has captured thousands of Ukrainian children during its aggression against Ukraine. And the second is backing of what is going on. Iran can’t say it has nothing to do with what is going on in Ukraine if it sells “shaheds” to Russia. Iran can’t say it has nothing to do with what is going on in Israel if its officials claim the support of what is going on in Israel.

Ladies and gentlemen!

How far can such evil go? No further than we allow it to. Our unity must and can stop the evil. Our desire for peace, not their desire for blood, should determine how the world lives. Our rules-based international order, and not their attempts to make death a rule.

Sometimes terrorists’ leaders say, “what are the rules on which the international order is based?” As if they do not understand… And these are very simple rules. Very simple. Do not rape women. Do not kill. Do not consider children as trophies. Do not fill cities and villages with blood and do not shoot cars with civilians. Do not hit peaceful cities with missiles and drones. And one more rule – under any circumstances, we must bring to justice all terrorists and all those who help them.

Isn’t the power of the world enough to stop the evil? I am sure it is.

Now everyone in the world who values life and international peace needs to be as active as possible. This is not the time to withdraw from the international arena into internal disputes. This is not the time to isolate ourselves. This is not the time to remain silent or pretend that terror on one continent does not affect global affairs.

Everyone can help prevent the chasm between the world and peace from widening. Europe should be active. The United States should be active. China. India. Arab states should feel how much can collapse if they allow terrorists to achieve their goals. Türkiye. Brazil and all of Latin America. Japan. Australia. Canada. African countries. Central Asian countries. Korea. Pakistan. Indonesia. The Caribbean. The Pacific states. Everyone should be active in the defense of life and international law! We must not give terror a single chance.

Ukraine is grateful to everyone who has supported us in our defense against terror. I thank every country, every leader, all the nations that are with us. Those who help us with air defense and everything else. This is especially important now, before the winter, which Russia will try to make painful for us. I thank all of you who are working with us to implement the Peace Formula. All areas of our cooperation lead to one thing – to ensure that the UN Charter is fully effective in protecting Ukraine and our entire Europe from terror and aggression. And if it works here, it will work anywhere in the world.

If there are real global sanctions for any sponsorship of terror, terror will lose. If the world unites whenever someone takes women hostage and kidnaps the children of another nation, terror will have no allies. If the one attacked by terrorists receives all the weapons it needs to protect its people, international law will be the only force that will determine how the world lives. And the world will live in peace. This is our common goal.

Ladies and gentlemen!

I urge your states and parliaments to be even more active for the sake of global unity.

Let everyone who sponsors terror feel the power of our wrath. And let everyone who needs help defending themselves against terror feel the power of our solidarity. We must all be able to promise our children that we will leave them a world ruled not by blood shed by evil, but by freedom guaranteed by law.

Thank you very much for your attention! Thanks for support!

Слава Україні!

VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj00Y8IqsVI