"Imagine someone is taking siege to Vancouver," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked Canadian leaders. "Can you just imagine then for a second, and all these people who are left in such city?"
"And this is exactly the situation that our city of Mauripol is suffering right now."
Zelenskyy spoke to the entire Canadian Parliament Tuesday night (March 15), asking them to imagine the war in Canadian cities, thanking Canada and Canadian citizens for assistance already received, and asking for more.
When describing what was happening in Mariupol, a port city of around 500,000 on the Sea of Azov, he asked the group to think about how they felt if Vancouver were facing a similar situation. Mauripol recently saw the bombing of a maternity hospital which resulted in the death of at least one mother and newborn.
Zelenskyy also described other Canadian metropolises, comparing them to different Ukrainian cities.
"Justin, can you imagine hearing it?" Zelenskyy asked. "You, your children hear all these severe explosions — bombing of airport, bombing of Ottawa airport, tens of other cities of your wonderful country. Can you imagine that?"
He also asked the group to imagine Toronto's CN Tower being hit by bombs or an invading army taking Canadian flags down around Montreal and other cities, relating them to situations happening to Ukraine.
Vancouver was brought up again as part of Zelenskyy's request for more, stronger aid.
"You can see our cities like Kharkiv, Mariupol and many other cities are not protected, just like your cities are protected — Edmonton, Vancouver," he said. "You can see that Kyiv is being shelled and bombed."
Zelenskyy's request did acknowledge Canada's support so far, but he focused on asking for a 'no-fly zone' to be created over his country by Canada and other allies in NATO.
"Canada has always been steadfast in their support," he said. "You've been a reliable partner to Ukraine and Ukrainians and I'm sure this will continue."
Zelenskyy has given similar speeches to British and American leaders over the last two days, as well.
The war has claimed the lives of at least 700 so far according to the United Nations. Zelenskyy said casualties include 97 children.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly told reporters after the speech Canada wants to support Ukraine to defend its airspace, without crossing the “red line” into international conflict.
“We need to do more, we will be doing more, my team and I are on it,” she said. “What we need to do, also, we need to continue, diplomatically speaking, to isolate Russia and put maximum pressure."
- with files from the Canadian Press
