Zelensky echoes Churchill in speech to House of Commons

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Commenting on recent world events today (Friday), Gabor Steingart said Mr Zelensky “shook up politicians with brilliant, highly emotional speeches and was not shy with criticism”. Drawing a comparison between him and the great British Prime Minister, the former editor of Handelsblatt added: “He knew how to turn words into feelings and feelings into politics.”

In a speech to the Bundestag yesterday (Thursday), Mr Zelensky appealed to Germany’s history, describing Germany’s reluctance to cut off Russia as “another brick” in a new wall dividing Europe.

Harking back to a famous speech made by former US President Ronald Reagan, he called for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to “tear down this wall”.

Mr Steingart said that particular comment “really hit home” with German politicians.

In a scathing attack of Germany’s apathy towards the conflict in Ukraine, Mr Zelensky said: “Every year politicians repeat: never again! And now we see that these words are simply worth nothing.

“In Europe, a people is being destroyed.”

Writing in German publication Focus, Mr Steingart compared the two leaders’ power of oratory, saying: “Zelensky knows how to turn words into feelings and feelings into politics – and is thus a worthy successor to […] Churchill.

“On his tour of the Western parliaments, the Ukrainian president shook up politicians with brilliant, highly emotional speeches and was not shy with criticism, first and foremost of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.”

He added that Churchill “knew how to turn words into feelings and feelings into politics.

“His reach, to use the contemporary term, was a global one. He functioned as the first influencer before the word was even invented.”

Just as Churchill had to use his cunning to enlist help from fellow allies during World War 2, Zelensky “will not be able to win his fight for freedom without Western help.

“He needs money. He needs rocket launchers. He needs the Western resolve to finally disconnect the hose at the petrol pump from the gifted energy salesman Putin.”

Mr Steingart commented that during speeches to various Western parliaments, Mr Zelensky was “a man full of commitment and whose determination was only fuelled by their indecision”.

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Regarding the Ukrainian President’s comments to the Bundestag, the popular author said that “new Churchill had hit them all, the Chancellor first and foremost, in their most sensitive spot.

“They want freedom, but without a fight. They show solidarity, but only so much.

“Being cold for freedom is out of the question for a good centrist like Olaf Scholz.”

It is not the first time Mr Zelensky has been compared with the wartime Prime Minister.

Last week, he addressed the House of Commons, where he paid homage the famous speech made to the chamber by Churchill in 1940.

He said: “We will not give up and we will not lose. We will fight until the end, at sea, in the air.

“We will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost.

“We will fight in the forest, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets.”

Mr Zelensky added: “Just in the same way you didn’t want to lose your country when Nazis started to fight your country, you had to fight.”

Additional reporting by Monika Pallenberg

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