Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskij lamented the wait for big weapons from the West. His country still has to order equipment and always gets the answer that it has to wait for fighter jets, missile defense systems and anti-ship weapons, Zelensky said on Friday in a video speech in front of the Finnish parliament in Helsinki. “They tell us that we have to wait in the situation where we are losing hundreds of people every day because of Russian attacks, where dozens of our cities were destroyed.” Finland, on the other hand, was quick to supply its country with defense equipment.
When countries fight for their freedom, they need help, Zelensky said. Smaller countries understand this better than larger ones. You have to convince the big states of the need for sanctions, which Russia cannot circumvent. “We must sever all economic ties with this country.”
The bloodshed seen in Bucha is also happening in other Ukrainian cities like Mariupol, Zelensky said. If the Russian military were ordered to invade Finland as well, they would. He recalled the courage with which Finland defied the Soviet Union in the Winter War of 1939. “In your history, you have seen an invasion of Russia by Russia and that threat is still there.” The war in Ukraine is not just decisive for the future of your country, but for all those who share the border with Russia.