March 15 (UPI) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday made an emotional plea to Canada and other nations to close the airspace over his country to stop Russia's bombings of multiple cities.
In his remarks delivered by video link to Canada's Parliament, Zelensksy also reported that 97 children have thus far been killed in the war that began when Russia invaded almost three weeks ago.
"You all need to do more to stop Russia, to protect Ukraine," he said. "And by doing that, to protect Europe from the Russia threat. At least understand how important it is for us to close our airspace from Russian missiles and Russian aircraft. How many more cruise missiles have to fall on our cities until you make this happen?"
Zelensky said that the attack on Ukraine is Russia's "attempt to annihilate the Ukrainian people. There is nothing else to it. This is their main objective. And it's an attempt to destroy everything that we as Ukrainians do. It's an attempt to destroy our future, our nation, our character. You Canadians know very well all this."
He said that "every night is a horrible night" as Russians are shelling "from all kinds of artilleries ... from tanks they are hitting civilian infrastructure and big buildings. ... Can you imagine there is a fire starting at a nuclear power plant, and that is exactly what happened in our country. Each city that they are marching through, they are taking down Ukrainian flags."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in his opening remarks before introducing Zelensky, said: "I've always thought of you as a champion of democracy. And now, democracies around the world are lucky to have you as our champion." Trudeau, who was in Europe last week to discuss Ukraine with other leaders, on Tuesday announced "severe sanctions" on 15 new Russian officials "who are complicit in this illegal war."
Zelensky closed his remarks by saying: "We want to live and we want to be victorious. We want to prevail for the sake of life."
The 44-year-old leader is scheduled to address Congress on Wednesday when he is expected to increase pressure on President Joe Biden to transfer Russian-made fighter jets to Kyiv.