After Volodymyr Zelensky unexpectedly arrived in The Hague on Wednesday evening, the Ukrainian president has now delivered a speech.
At 11:15 AM, Zelensky took to the stage. He opened his address by giving thanks for the respect that Ukraine has been receiving.
During his talk, he laid out what matters the most to Ukraine at this moment in the Russo-Ukrainian war.
“We want to see a different Vladimir here”
In a play on the shared first name between himself and Putin, Zelensky claims that instead of himself, “we want to see a different Vladimir here.”
READ MORE | “No peace without justice”: Ukrainian leader Zelensky to deliver speech in the Netherlands today
Putin deserves to be in The Hague, the “capital of international law” — to be sentenced for international war crimes, says the President of Ukraine.
“I’m sure we will see that happen when we win,” he says, “and we will win.”
In the context of Dutch National Remembrance Day, Zelensky stresses that the ongoing conflict is not simply about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Rather, it is about freedom, justice, and universal values.
Impunity leads to further aggression
When Russia invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014, not much was done about it. This kind of “impunity is the key that opens the door to aggression,” says Zelensky.
With that, he implies that impunity ultimately led to the full-scale invasion of the Ukrainian mainland on 24 February 2022.
Demand for a new tribunal
As the title of his speech, “No Peace without Justice for Ukraine,” suggests, Zelensky is not open to compromise.
He demands “full-scale justice, not hybrid peace.”
In a reference to the Nuremberg trials, Zelensky says that what is needed is “a full-fledged tribunal and full justice.”
As the NOS writes, the problem with this is that the UN Security Council must agree to it. This would block Russia as a permanent member.
You can watch Zelesky’s full speech below.
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