ウクライナ大統領「最後まで戦う」　英議会で演説

【ＡＦＰ＝時事】ウクライナのウォロディミル・ゼレンスキー大統領は８日、英議会でビデオ演説し、「最後まで戦い続ける」と徹底抗戦の姿勢を改めて示した。（写真は英議会で、ウクライナのウォロディミル・ゼレンスキー大統領の演説を聞く議員ら。英議会提供）
　演説前後には、ボリス・ジョンソン英首相や議員が総立ちとなり、拍手した。英議会で外国の首脳が演説するのはまれで、スタンディングオベーションが起きるのはさらにまれだ。
　ゼレンスキー氏は、ロシアによる侵攻で日を追うごとに子どもを含む民間人の犠牲が増えている現状を訴える一方で、「われわれは降伏しないし、敗北もしない」と強調した。
　さらに「われわれは森で、平原で、海岸で、市街で戦い抜く」と決意を示した。
　この言葉は、第２次世界大戦時に英国を率いたウィンストン・チャーチル元首相が、ナチス・ドイツの攻勢を受け仏ダンケルクから撤退した直後の１９４０年６月に議会で演説した際の表現を想起させるものだった。
　ゼレンスキー氏は、英国が生んだ文豪シェークスピアの名言も引用し、「今、われわれにとっての問題は生きるべきか死ぬべきかだ」と自問。「明確な答えを示そう。そう、生きるべきだ」と語った。
　ゼレンスキー大統領はジョンソン首相に対し、対ロシア制裁の強化、ロシアのテロ国家指定、ウクライナ上空を対象とする飛行禁止区域の設定を求めた。
　これに対しジョンソン氏は「ここにいる全員が心を動かされた」と述べ、西側諸国によるウクライナへの武器提供の推進と、制裁強化の意向を表明した。英米両国は先に、ロシア産原油の輸入禁止を発表している。
　ただ、北大西洋条約機構（ＮＡＴＯ）による飛行禁止区域の設定については、核兵器保有国であるロシアとの全面戦争に発展する恐れがあると指摘するにとどめた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/03/10-09:34）

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, invoking the wartime defiance of British prime minister Winston Churchill, vowed Tuesday to fight to the end in a historic virtual speech to UK lawmakers.
We will not give up and we will not lose, he said, giving a day-by-day account of Russia's invasion that dwelt on the costs in lives of civilians including Ukrainian children.
We will fight to the end, at sea, in the air. We will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost.
We will fight in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets, he told the packed chamber, which greeted him with a standing ovation at the start and rose again at the end.
The speech was a conscious echo of Churchill's landmark address to the House of Commons in June 1940, after British forces were forced to retreat from France in the face of a Nazi German onslaught.
We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, Churchill said after the retreat at Dunkirk.
Zelensky, wearing a military-green T-shirt and sitting next to Ukraine's blue-and-yellow flag, also invoked William Shakespeare as he delivered the chamber's first-ever virtual speech by a foreign leader.
The question for us now is, to be or not to be, he said in his 10-minute speech, which followed similar addresses to members of the US Congress and the European Parliament.
Now I can give you a definitive answer: it is yes, to be.
Zelensky, while thanking Western countries for their retaliation against Russia, also noted that NATO had failed to accede to his demands to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
Appealing directly to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, he said: But please increase the pressure of sanctions against this country. And please recognise this country as a terrorist state.
And please make sure that our skies are safe.
Please make sure that you do what needs to be done and what is stipulated by the greatness of your country.
- 'Moved our hearts' -
In response, Johnson said never before in all our centuries of parliamentary democracy has the House listened to such an address.
He has moved the hearts of everybody in this House, he said, vowing that the West would press on with arms supplies to Ukraine and further sanctions, after the US and UK announced a ban on Russian oil.
But in common with other Western leaders, Johnson has warned that NATO enforcement of a no-fly zone would risk all-out war with nuclear-armed Russia.
Speeches by foreign heads of state are a rare occurrence in the mother of all parliaments, and standing ovations are rarer still.
The last such speech was in October 2018, when Dutch King Willem-Alexander addressed a joint sitting of the Commons and House of Lords, in person.
Zelensky's address came after Ukraine's ambassador in London, Vadym Prystaiko, received a minute-long standing ovation from MPs when he attended the lower chamber on March 2.
Zelensky has been in daily contact with Western leaders since Russia launched its shock invasion on February 24, eliciting public sympathy if not all he wants in terms of practical support.
On March 5, Zelensky addressed nearly 300 members of the US Congress by Zoom to plead for financial aid and the delivery of Soviet-era planes from NATO members in eastern Europe.
He addressed the European Parliament on March 1 and gave an emotional plea for Ukraine to be given immediate EU membership.
Then, the English translator choked up as Zelensky described how civilians had been killed in Russia's bombardment of his cities.