Wed 20 July 2022:
Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, made a dire appeal to US lawmakers on Wednesday, pleading with them to give urgently required military assistance to counter Russian attacks.
Zelenska described a series of Russian strikes across Ukraine that killed and injured civilians, including children and women, in her speech to Congressmen in the Congressional Auditorium of the Capitol Visitor Center. She pleaded with lawmakers to send more weapons to help avert further tragedies.
“I am asking for something I would never want to ask. I am asking for weapons, weapons that would not be used to wage a war on somebody else’s land, but to protect one’s home and the right to wake up alive in that home,” said the Ukrainian first lady, pointing specifically to air defense systems to intercept Russia rocket and missile strikes.
“I’m asking for something now I would never want to ask: I am asking for weapons,” Ukrainian 1st Lady Olena Zelenska tells Congress.
“Weapons that would not be used to wage a war on somebody else’s land, but to protect one’s home &the right to wake up alive.”#UkraineRussiaWar pic.twitter.com/hefyIFUgZu
— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) July 20, 2022
“While Russia kills, America saves,” she added while showing lawmakers pictures of victims of Russian attacks.
Zelenska’s address comes hours after Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced that the US would be providing Kyiv with four additional High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS). The multiple rocket launcher systems have proven highly effective at allowing Ukraine to strike Russian infrastructure critical to the Kremlin’s war, including ammunition depots and other supply lines.
The announcement on Wednesday brought the total number of HIMARS that have been given to Ukraine to 16.
Austin is expected to announce an additional military aid package later Wednesday when he briefs reporters alongside Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley.
According to UN statistics, more than 5,100 civilians have died in Ukraine since the conflict started in February.
In addition, at least 16 million people in Ukraine have been forced to leave their homes, 9.2 million of whom have left for other countries.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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