“You were among the first to come to help in Ukraine and you remain the most concerned about peace and security in Europe,” he said on Tuesday.
The Ukrainian leader stated that the Ukrainians would long remember the efforts and sincerity of the Lithuanians. He thanked Speaker of the Lithuanian Seimas Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen and Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte for paying visits to Ukraine despite the ongoing war.
“I am grateful to you, Mr. Gitanas [Nauseda], that you were the first […] to take a decision and to send us real assistance, that is weapons, Stingers, etc. That was the proof of leadership,” Zelensky told the Lithuanian president who attended the parliamentary sitting to listen to his Ukrainian counterpart’s address.
“The Lithuanian nation is more aware than anyone how occupiers can destroy freedom and what is the cost of restoring independence,” the Ukrainian president said adding that this was the type of leadership necessary for the entire European continent.
While addressing the Seimas, Zelensky said that the war unleashed by Russia in Ukraine had raised a strategic question about values, their continuing importance, for Europe.
“Are the values that formed the basis of Europe after the WWII still truly alive? Have they become outdated and can only serve as a museum object for tourists?” he said while talking about the killing, torture and rape of civilians by Russian troops.
The Ukrainian President addressed the Seimas of Lithuania remotely from Kyiv.
Following the address, the Lithuanian MPs turned to debates and the adoption of a resolution condemning Russia’s ongoing military aggression and war crimes in Ukraine.
Russia launched its military invasion of the neighboring country on February 24. While announcing a “military operation” in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that its aim was to “denazify and demilitarize” Ukraine.
The war has led to widespread destruction of civil infrastructure and housing in Ukraine and the discovery of mass graves of civilians, some of whom were tortured, in the territories retaken from the Russian army.
Since the beginning of the war, Zelensky has remotely addressed the parliaments of many countries around the world.