Journal with Lusa
| Diary
LISBON – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zhelensky on Thursday asked the Portuguese parliament to step up weapons and tighten sanctions against Russia during a video conference Thursday.
At the official reception, which was attended by Portuguese President Marcelo Rebello de Sousa and the Prime Minister, the President of Ukraine, in particular, called for “heavy weapons” and “support for sanctions and military support, as well as for the acceleration and strengthening of weapons.”
The President of Ukraine addressed the authorities and people of Portugal: “I urge you to do everything possible to help your country.”
In simultaneous translation from Ukrainian to Portuguese at the Sala das Sessões, Volodymyr Zhelensky accused the Russian Federation of war crimes, stating that Russian troops captured and deported “more than 500,000 Ukrainians”: “That’s twice the population of Porto.”
According to Zhelensky, “the deportees do not have the right to communicate with their families, they are deported to remote corners of Russia, where special camps have been created to separate these people, someone is killed, someone is raped.”
“Imagine if all the Portuguese left the country,” the Ukrainian president added, referring to the refugees caused by this military attack.
The head of state expressed hope that people who fled their homes would “return soon,” but added: “However, we cannot guarantee when this will happen.”
Wearing a green T-shirt, as he had been displaying since the beginning of the Russian invasion, with a Ukrainian flag on the side, Zhelensky spoke for about fifteen minutes.
In the first part of his speech, he described attacks by Russian forces on civilians in various parts of Ukraine, describing “occupiers killing people for fun” and “bombing schools.”
Zhelensky pointed to the devastation of the city of Mariupol as “the size of Lisbon”, where, in his words, “not a single dwelling”.
“In that city, 10,000 or more people were killed. We are not sure of the number as they cremated the mobile phone to destroy the bodies so we will never have proof,” he said.
“For our freedom, for our survival, for our people, for Ukrainians, they should not be killed, tortured, raped, taken prisoner by Russia,” he said.
The sacred meeting was attended by former Portuguese President António Ramalho Ines and former Prime Minister Pedro Santana López.
After Zhelensky’s speech, there was only a speech by President Augusto Santos Silva at a solemn meeting that welcomed the President of Ukraine.
PAN MP Inés de Sousa Real proposed this initiative and it was approved with the support of all parties except the communists who opposed and were not present at the meeting.
The Russian Federation launched a military offensive in Ukraine in the early hours of 24 February with an incursion of ground troops and bombs.
According to the UN, more than 2,000 civilians were killed during the military offensive, and more than 5 million people fled Ukraine.
On March 2, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution condemning the Russian occupation of Ukraine and calling for an effective and immediate ceasefire, with 141 votes in favor, including five against Portugal, and 35 abstentions.