Words have such power, especially when eloquently spoken. Like science, eloquence can do great evil or be a force for good. Hitler’s ranting persuasions sent his audience pouring out of a stadium to conquer the world. Churchill’s answering quite literally pushed back the Reich.
In its Greco-Roman golden age, rhetoric was the key to civilised persuasion and therefore to society itself. Wrote Cicero: “I have thought long and often over of whether the power of speaking and the study of eloquence have bought more good or harm to the cities.” As Cicero knew it depends. Eloquence implies premeditation in an age that has made a virtue of spontaneity and gossip preferably scribbled on ‘twitface’, where personality far too often outweighs issues.
One who knows the power of the word is the President of the Ukraine. President Zelenski. During his inaugural address in 2019 he told lawmakers: “I do not want my picture in your offices: the president is not an icon, an idol or a portrait. Hang your kids’ photos instead and look at them each time you are making a decision.”
His speeches have been compared to Winston Churchill’s. Now his messages – of hope, defiance, bravery, anger – have been collected into a remarkable book. Here. Volodymyr Zelensky handpicks a selection.
Volodymyr Zelensky
The Happiest person
I would be the happiest person in the world if my speeches were never published. If my addresses after February 24, 2022, had never been written or spoken, and if my speeches after the invasion had never been heard or read.
I write these words not as an attempt to grab your attention, nor in a phoney stab at glory. The reason I need your attention is far too painful, the price of any “glory” far too high. It is the war that has been unleashed against Ukraine. It is the thousands of lives taken by Russia.
If only we could change the past. There is so much I would give up in an instant. The acclaim and admiration from countries around the world. I would prefer that when people heard the surname Zelensky, they replied, “Who?” I would rather I had never heard the applause of the US Congress, the House of Commons or the European Parliament – and that Ukrainians had never heard the sound of explosions or gunshots in our homeland.
If only we could change the past. I would rather it wasn’t my face on the cover of Time magazine, but instead a doctor working on a cure for cancer; that lists of the world’s most influential people focused not on politicians, but on the scientists finding ways to overcome hunger and global warming, chemical and biological warfare, even the nuclear threat facing the world.
If only we could change the past. I would give up every mention of my name in the global press, every repost on social media. At heart, I don’t care about gaining new followers on Instagram and Facebook; all I feel is my heart breaking for the thousands killed in Bucha and Izyum – for all the dead Ukrainians.
Assuming you live on planet Earth, you probably already know what has been happening in Ukraine for the past eight years. Assuming that you are in your right mind – that you have a clear head and a caring heart – you already know the significance of February 24, 2022. Maybe you understand why writing “rf” with lower-case letters is only fair. [The Ukrainian government does not capitalise the name of the “Russian federation”, arguing that this would bestow it with undue political legitimacy.] Perhaps you even understand why the beginning of this introduction takes the form it does: abrupt, intense, jarring.
Ukraine did not appear on the world map in early 2022. Ukrainians were not born in the moment of the rf’s invasion. We were, we are and we will be; we have existed, we exist and we will continue to exist. And so, while we appreciate the help, support and attention the world has given us, the bravery of our people must not start being taken for granted. War must not become routine.
Threat from ‘Putin the Nazi’ outweighs pain of rising energy bills
Do not forget about Ukraine. Do not get tired of Ukraine. Do not let our courage go “out of fashion”.
Above all, hear our message: one that rang out loud and clear on Independence Day 2022, and will ring out until the last rf soldier leaves our territory.
What will bring the end of the war? We used to say “peace”. Now we say “victory”.
Zelensky holds a press conference at the Independence Square metro station in Kyiv
METIN AKTAS/ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES
‘The Lessons of History’
Speech to the Munich Security Conference, Munich, February 19, 2022
Two days ago I was in Donbas, on the demarcation line. Officially, it marks the line between Ukraine and the temporarily occupied territories. In fact, it marks the line between peace and war. On one side there is a kindergarten, on the other a bomb crater. On one side there is a school, on the other a playground destroyed by a missile.
And in the school on the occupied side there are 30 children who still go there to learn. Some have physics classes. Knowing the basic laws of physics, even these children understand the absurdity of the claim that the shelling is carried out by Ukraine.
And some have history classes. So, when a bomb crater appears in their school grounds, these children have a question: has the world forgotten the mistakes of the 20th century?
How did it happen that, in the 21st century, Europe is again at war and people are dying?
How is it that this conflict has lasted longer [since the 2014 annexation of Crimea] than the Second World War? How did we get to the biggest security crisis since the Cold War?
As the president of a country that has lost part of its territory, thousands of people, and on whose borders there are now 150,000 Russian troops as well as equipment and heavy weapons, to me the answer is obvious. The architecture of world security is fragile and needs to be updated. The rules that the world agreed upon decades ago no longer work. They do not keep up with new threats, and they are not effective in overcoming them. They offer a cough syrup when what you need is a Covid vaccine.
Zelensky during his address on the first day of Russia's attacks
‘Do Russians Want War?’
Address to the Ukrainian and Russian people, Kyiv, February 24, 2022, 12.30am. A few hours before the invasion
Ukrainians, I will be speaking briefly and sincerely. Today, we have strengthened the defence capabilities and resilience of our state. To support the soldiers who are protecting us, we have introduced a state of emergency for 30 days across the whole of Ukraine. This decision was supported by 335 deputies of the parliament. A great defensive coalition has begun its work.
Parliament also adopted a package of measures to finance the defence sector. Tomorrow, the deputies will go to the regions to support our people.
Our international partners are mobilised to support Ukraine… and I have also met the representatives of major Ukrainian businesses. They all remain in Ukraine along with their teams, and are working to protect the country. Thank you to everyone who is helping Ukraine. Let us keep working.
And now, in Russian. [From here onwards, Zelensky speaks in Russian.]
Today, I attempted to call the president of the russian federation. I was met with silence. In a just world, the silence would be in Donbas.
So today I want to appeal to all the citizens of Russia – not as president, but as a citizen of Ukraine.
We are separated by more than 2,000 kilometres of shared border. Today, your forces stand along that border; almost 200,000 soldiers and thousands of military vehicles. Your leaders have given approval for them to step into the territory of another country.
This step could mark the beginning of a huge war on the European continent.
Zelensky calls for solidarity, marking one month of the war
Today, the whole world is talking about what will happen next. Any provocation – any spark – could burn everything to the ground. You are told that this flame will bring freedom to the people of Ukraine. But the Ukrainian people are already free. We remember our past, and we are building our future ourselves: building it, not destroying it, in spite of what you are told every day on the television.
The Ukraine in your news and the Ukraine in real life are two completely different countries. And the main difference is that ours exists. You are told that we are Nazis. How can a country that gave more than eight million lives in the struggle against Nazism support Nazism? How could I be a Nazi? Tell that to my grandfather. He went through the entire war fighting as an infantryman for the Soviet army, and died as a colonel in independent Ukraine.
You are told that I will order an attack on Donbas, to shoot and bomb indiscriminately. But this raises some very simple questions. Shoot at whom? Bomb what? Donetsk, a city I have visited dozens of times? Artyom Street, where I have walked with friends? Donbas Arena, where I rooted for the Ukrainian team at the Euros in 2012 with the locals? Shcherbakova Park, where we drank together when our guys lost? Luhansk, where my best friend’s mother lives? The site where my best friend’s father is buried?
You know our character. You know our people. You know what we value. So please listen to yourselves. Listen to the voice of reason: to common sense.
I know they will not show this appeal on Russian television. But the citizens of Russia must see it. They must know the truth. And the truth is that this situation needs to end before it is too late.
Zelensky, centre, in the town of Bucha in April this year
RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
‘We Are Ukraine’
Address to the Ukrainian people, Kyiv, February 24, 2022, 6am
Dear Ukrainian citizens, this morning President Putin announced a special military operation in Donbas. Russia has carried out strikes on our military infrastructure and our border guard divisions.
Explosions have been heard in many Ukrainian cities.
We have introduced martial law across the country.
I have just had a phone call with President Biden. The United States of America has already started to gather international support for our cause. Today, we need each of you to remain calm. If you can, please stay at home.
We are all working to protect the country. The army is working. The whole security and defence sector is working.
I will be in constant contact with you. So will the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, and the cabinet ministers of Ukraine.
I will talk to you again soon. Do not panic. We are strong. We are ready for everything. We will defeat anyone. Because we are Ukraine.
Glory to Ukraine.
Address to the UK Parliament in London (via video link), March 8, 2022
Today I address all the people of the United Kingdom. You are a great people, with a great history.
I speak to you as a citizen – and as president – of another great country: a great country with a dream.
I want to tell you about the last 13 days of our war. It is a war we did not start and did not want, but a war we are waging. Because we do not want to lose what is ours: Ukraine. Just as you did not want to lose what was yours when the Nazis tried to invade, and you had to fight for Britain.
On the first day, cruise missiles were fired at us at 4am. It woke everybody up: every single person in Ukraine, children and adults. We have not slept since. We took up arms, and we became a great army.
On the second day, we fought off attacks in the air, on land and at sea. Our heroic border guards on Zmiinyi Island in the Black Sea showed everyone how the war will end. When a Russian ship demanded that our guys lay down their weapons, they answered him with – well, an answer so firm that one cannot repeat it in parliament. In that moment, we felt strong. It was the strength of a people who will resist the invader to the end.
On the third day, Russian troops unashamedly fired at civilians and apartment buildings. They used artillery and dropped bombs. It finally showed the world who is who: which side are a great nation, and which side are animals.
On the fourth day, we began to take prisoners. But we did not lose our dignity. We did not abuse them. We treated them like people. Because, on the fourth day of this shameful war, we retained our humanity.
On the fifth day, the attempts to terrorise us became obvious. There was terror against cities, terror against small towns; bombs raining down on houses, on schools, on hospitals. This war is an act of genocide. But it is an act that has not broken us.
On the sixth day, Russian missiles hit Babyn Yar. During the Second World War, Nazis killed over 100,000 people there. Eighty years later, Russia dishonoured their memories by hitting them for a second time.
On the seventh day, we realised that the Russian forces were even destroying churches. They do not understand the holy and the great as we do.
On the eighth day, the world saw Russian tanks firing at a nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe. That was when the world began to understand that this is an act of terror against us all: a great terror, in fact.
On the ninth day, a meeting of the Nato parliamentary assembly ended without the result we were looking for, and without a display of courage. We felt that alliances do not work; they can’t even impose a no-fly zone. That is why the security guarantees in Europe must be rebuilt from scratch.
On the tenth day, unarmed Ukrainians protested everywhere in the occupied cities. They stopped armoured vehicles with their bare hands. We became invincible.
On the 11th day, children, cities and hospitals were hit by rockets. Children had to be evacuated from a cancer ward. That was when we realised that all Ukrainians have become heroes. Hundreds of thousands of them, children and adults, entire cities strong.
On the 12th day, when the losses of the invading army already exceeded 10,000 killed, a Russian general joined that number. It gave us confidence. For every crime and for every shameful order, someone will be held responsible – whether before the International Criminal Court or by Ukrainian weapons.
On the 13th day, a child died of dehydration in Russian-occupied Mariupol. The Russian forces do not allow food or water to reach people. They have blocked the supplies, and people have started to panic. Let everyone hear the truth: in Ukraine, there are people who don’t have access to water.
In these 13 days, 50 children have been killed. Fifty lives that could have been lived to the full, taken away from us.
We were not looking for this war. Ukraine did not seek greatness. But over these last 13 days, Ukraine has become great.
‘How Did This Become Possible?’
Address to the Ukrainian people, Kyiv, April 3, 2022
My address today begins without a greeting. I do not want to utter any more words than are necessary.
Presidents do not usually record addresses of this kind. But today I have no choice, after what was revealed in Bucha and the other cities from which the occupiers were expelled. Hundreds of people killed. Civilians tortured and executed. Corpses on the streets. Landmines across the city, even inside the bodies of the dead. The effects of looting visible everywhere.
Concentrated evil has come to our land. We have been invaded by murderers, torturers, rapists and looters. People who call themselves the army, and who deserve only death for what they have done.
I want the mother of every Russian soldier to see the bodies of those killed in Bucha, in Irpin, in Hostomel. What did they do wrong? Why were they killed? What did the man who was riding his bicycle down the street do? Or the ordinary civilians in a peaceful city who were tortured to death? Why were women strangled after their earrings were ripped out? Why were women raped and killed in front of children? Why were their corpses desecrated? Why were people’s bodies crushed with tanks?
What did Bucha do to Russia? How did this become possible? Russian mothers: even if you raised looters, how did they also become butchers? You can’t have been unaware of what lay in your children’s minds. You couldn’t have missed their lack of humanity. That they were becoming people without heart. People who killed deliberately and with pleasure.
I want the leaders of the russian federation to see how their orders are being carried out. They share the responsibility. They are culpable for the arms torn off by explosives, and for the people shot in the back of the head with their hands tied.
President Zelensky addresses the G20 summit: ‘Never Again?’
Address on the Ukrainian Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation, Borodyanka, May 8, 2022
Can spring arrive in black and white? Can the cold of February go on for ever? Can words of peace lose their meaning?
Ukraine knows that the answers to all these questions can be “yes”.
Every year on May 8, we honour all who defended the planet from Nazism during the Second World War. We remember the millions of reasons to say to evil, “Never again.”
We have long understood the price our ancestors paid so that we can say these words. But until now, we had no idea that our generation would witness their desecration.
They are not, it turns out, words of truth for everyone.
This year, we say “never again” differently. We hear “never again” differently. It sounds painful, cruel – now without an exclamation mark, but with a question mark. You say, “Never again?” Tell that to the people of Ukraine.
On February 24, the word “never” was erased. It was shot and bombed by hundreds of missiles at 4am, which woke up the whole of Ukraine. Then, all we heard was “again”.
The city of Borodyanka is one of the many victims of this crime. I give this address standing before the proof. It is not a military facility nor a secret base, but a simple nine-storey block of flats. Can it pose a security threat to Russia? To a nation that takes up one eighth of the planet’s land, to the world’s second largest army, to a nuclear state? Could any question be more absurd?
Consider the 250kg bombs with which a superpower shelled this small town. In that moment, the town was rendered mute. Today, it cannot say, “Never again.” Today, it cannot say anything. Yet here, everything is clear without words. Just look at this house. There used to be walls here. They once had photos on them with images of those who went through the hell of war. The 50 men from this town who were sent to Germany for forced labour. The people who were burnt alive when the Nazis set 100 houses here on fire. The 250 Borodyanka soldiers who died on the fronts of the Second World War, out of the nearly 1,000 residents of this town who fought and defeated Nazism.
They fought to say, “Never again.”
They fought for their children’s future.
They fought for the life that was here until February 24.
Imagine the people in these apartments going to bed. Imagine them wishing each other good night, turning off the light and hugging their loved ones. They closed their eyes and they fell asleep. They did not know that not everyone would see tomorrow. They did not know that in a few hours they would be awoken by missile explosions, and that some would not wake at all.
“Never again?” Now, the word “never” has been dropped. It was taken during the so-called “special operation”. Russia looked us in the eyes and stabbed a knife into the heart of “never again”… Until the monsters of our past began to reappear. Ukraine has not forgotten the occupation of our cities 80 years ago. Many are now experiencing a second occupation; some, such as Mariupol, a third. During two years of occupation, the Nazis killed 10,000 civilians there. In two months of occupation, Russia has killed 20,000.
Decades after the Second World War, darkness has returned to Ukraine. Our cities are drained of colour, turning black and white again. Evil has returned.
Zelensky releases video marking Ukraine's independence and six months since invasion
‘A Free People’
Address on Ukrainian Independence Day, Kyiv, August 24, 2022
The free people of an independent Ukraine. These seven words say everything. Seven little words – but how much meaning they hold today, on day 182 of the full-scale war. They capture a truth it is impossible to dispute. That we are the free people of an independent Ukraine. A truth about the present: that after six months of attempts to destroy us, we are still the free people of an independent Ukraine.
And it is also the truth about our future: that we will remain the free people of an independent Ukraine.
Six months ago, Russia declared war on us. On February 24 the whole of Ukraine heard explosions and gunshots. Ukraine was not supposed to hear the words “Happy Independence Day” on August 24.
On February 24, we were told, “You have no chance.” On August 24, we can say, “Happy Independence Day, Ukraine.”
Over these six months, we have changed history, we have changed the world, and above all, we have changed ourselves.
Today, we know for certain who is really our comrade and our friend, and who is not even a casual acquaintance. We know who maintained their name and reputation, and who was on the side of the terrorists.
And the whole world has learnt who Ukrainians are too. What Ukraine is. Never again will anyone say, “It is somewhere over there, near Russia.”
Russians, you don’t want your soldiers to die? Free our lands. You don’t want your mothers to cry? Free our lands. These are our terms, clear and simple.
The free people of an independent Ukraine. We are spending this day in different places.
Some are in trenches and dugouts, in tanks and IFVs [infantry fighting vehicles], at sea and in the air, fighting for independence on the front line. Others are on our roads, in cars, trucks and trains, fighting for independence by delivering what is necessary to the front. And still others are on their mobiles and laptops, fighting for independence by raising funds.
We are facing this day in different circumstances, conditions and even in different time zones, but with one goal: the preservation of our independence and the victory of Ukraine.
We are united. Happy Independence Day. Glory to Ukraine.
Extracted from A Message from Ukraine by Volodymyr Zelensky, published by Hutchinson Heinemann. All President Zelensky’s proceeds from this book will be donated to United24, his initiative to collect donations in support of Ukraine. United24 is run by the government of Ukraine (u24.gov.ua; @u24_gov_ua)