Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will deliver a virtual address to the US Congress on Wednesday, as the Russian forces continue inching towards the capital city of Kyiv.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. AP
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will deliver a virtual address to the US Congress on Wednesday, as the Russian forces continue inching towards the capital city of Kyiv.
Zelenskyy will speak to members of the House and Senate, the Democratic leaders announced.
“The Congress, our country and the world are in awe of the people of Ukraine,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in a statement Monday.
They said all lawmakers are invited to the talk that will be delivered via video at the US Capitol.
This will be the second time that Zelenskyy will speak to the house since Russia began its “special military operation” on 24 February. Earlier this month, Zelenskyy spoke with the House and the Senate in a desperate plea for more military aid.
Zelenskyy also addressed the European Union and the UK’s House of Commons earlier this month. He became the first foreign leader to virtually address the House of Commons.
He is the third Ukrainian President to address a joint meeting of the US Congress. Earlier, Petro Poroshenko in 2014 and Viktor Yushchenko in 2005 addressed the House and Senate.
Foreign heads of state and dignitaries have addressed more than 120 joint meetings of the US Congress, including former president of Afghanistan Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, Australian prime minister Julia Gillard, and French president Nicolas Sarkozy.
Some like former British prime minister Winston Churchill and former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu are among the most frequent speakers at the Capitol Hill. Both the leaders have addressed the US Congress three times during their tenure.
Let’s take a look at some of the other world leaders who have addressed the US Congress:
Narendra Modi
In 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was invited to Capitol Hill by House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan.
In his 50-minutes long speech, Modi spoke on issues ranging from terrorism to defence and security cooperation, climate change to trade and economic relationship.
“As a representative of the world’s largest democracy, it is indeed a privilege to speak to the leaders of its oldest,” Modi said.
Modi isn’t the only Indian prime minister to have addressed the US Congress. He was, in fact, the sixth Indian prime minister to do so.
Jawaharlal Nehru in 1949, Rajiv Gandhi in 1985, PV Narasimha Rao in 1994, Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2000, and Manmohan Singh in 2005 have spoken to the House and the Senate of the US Congress during their regime.
Emmanuel Macron
On 25 April, 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron addressed a joint session of Congress. While talking about issues of climate change, nationalism, trade and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in his speech, he called on the US government to come back to the Paris Climate agreement.
Before Macron, seven heads of state and dignitaries from France have spoken at Capitol Hill, including Jacques Chirac in 1996, Francois Mitterand in 1984, Valery Giscard d’Estaing in 1976, Georges Pompidou in 1970, Charles de Gaulle in 1960, Vincent Auriol in 1951, and Ambassador Andre’ de Laboulaye in 1934.
Shinzo Abe
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe addressed the House and the Senate on 29 April, 2015.
The first Japanese prime minister to speak on Capitol Hill, Abe expressed condolences for Japan’s behaviour during World War II and shared a vision for a stronger alliance with the US.
“Let the two of us, America and Japan, join our hands together and do our best to make the world a better, a much better, place to live,” he said.
Queen Elizabeth II
Being the head of the Anglican Church, England’s Queen Elizabeth II is also the first religious leader to address a joint meeting of the US Congress. She delivered an address on 16 May, 1991.
Benazir Bhutto
On 7 June, 1989, then-Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto spoke with the House and Senate in a joint meeting of the US Congress. She was the second and last leader from Pakistan to address the US Congress.
In 1961, Pakistan president Mohammad Ayub Khan in a blunt address had asked for US aid.
“As far as the problem of aid is concerned–you have to give it to us–because it involves the fate of the world and also your own destiny,” Khan had said.
Margaret Thatcher
The then-UK prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, addressed the US Congress on 10 February, 1985. While endorsing the policies of the Reagan administration, Thatcher said that the military strength of the Western allies “has brought the Soviet Union to the bargaining table in Geneva.”
No British prime minister has addressed a joint meeting since Gordon Brown in 2009. Tony Blair in 2003, Clement Attlee in 1945, and Winston Churchill addressed the US Congress in 1952, 1943 and 1941.
Nelson Mandela
African leader and anti-apartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela also addressed the US Congress twice in his lifetime. On 26 June, 1990, he addressed the House and the Senate as the deputy president of the African National Congress and on 6 October 1994, he addressed the joint meeting as the President of South Africa.
He remains the only leader from Africa to speak at Capitol Hill.
With inputs from agencies
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