The Ukrainian president was connected to the EU Parliament in Brussels shortly after 11 am on Tuesday morning.
He was immediately met with a long and warm standing ovation from an overwhelming majority of the members.
A thousand days of courage. Your people are an inspiration to all who value freedom, around the world, said Speaker Roberta Metsola in her greeting to the president.
"Not a day of betrayal"
Zelenskyj himself began by thanking everyone for their support since February 2022.
Thank you for ensuring that not a single one of these thousand days has been a day of betrayal of our common values, said Zelenskyj – and urged Europe to hold on.
Do not forget what Europe can achieve. Together, we can certainly pressure Russia to a just peace, said the president.
But it must not be done with concessions, he emphasized.
Putin values neither people nor rules. He values only money and power. These are the things we must take away from him to restore peace, said Zelenskyj.
Later, he also spoke to the Ukrainian parliament, the Rada.
This struggle is about the whole of Ukraine, about the whole of Europe, about order or chaos in the whole world, he said according to the AFP news agency.
Swedish letter to the EU
In parallel, Sweden is using this symbolic day to demand tougher EU pressure on Russia. In a letter to the Commission, it is proposed that all members of the new EU Commission, which will soon take office, be tasked with developing concrete proposals on how Russia can be "limited" within their respective areas of responsibility.
This can concern trade policy, environment, digitalization, migration. I think it's well-timed to now address appeals to the new Commission. This is an existential issue, says EU Minister Jessica Rosencrantz (M) on her way to an EU meeting in Brussels on Tuesday.
Born in 1978 and grew up in Kryvyj Rih in central Ukraine, with Russian as his native language.
Trained as a lawyer, but chose a career as a comedian and actor.
Became known through the TV series "Servant of the People" where he portrays a history teacher who unexpectedly becomes Ukraine's president.
Ran in 2019 in a presidential election for real and then defeated the incumbent President Petro Poroshenko. Zelenskyj was open about his limited political knowledge, but said he was friendly towards NATO and the EU, and focused on resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine through diplomatic means.
