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Speaking to the Bundestag by videolink, Zelenskiy appealed to
Scholz to restore freedom to Ukraine, tapping Germany's
collective memory with reference to the historic 1948-1949
Berlin Airlift and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Zelenskiy described a new wall "in the middle of Europe between
freedom and unfreedom", which he said Germany had helped build,
isolating Ukraine with its business ties to Russia and its
previous support for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
"And this wall is getting bigger with every bomb that falls on
Ukraine, with every decision that is not taken," he added.
Germany last month halted the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas
pipeline project, designed to double the flow of Russian gas
directly to Germany.
Recalling former U.S. president Ronald Reagan's appeal to
Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, to tear down the
Berlin Wall, Zelenskiy told German lawmakers: "That's what I say
to you dear Chancellor Scholz: destroy this wall."
"Give Germany the leadership role that it has earned so that
your descendants are proud of you. Support freedom, support
Ukraine, stop this war, help us to stop this war," he added.
Lawmakers in the Bundestag welcomed Zelenskiy with a standing
ovation and the chamber's vice president, Katrin Goering-Eckardt,
told him: "Your country has chosen democracy, and that's what
(Russian President) Vladimir Putin fears."
She said Putin was trying to deny Ukraine's right to exist,
adding: "But he has already failed with that."
(Additional reporting by Andreas RinkeWriting by Paul
CarrelEditing by Miranda Murray)
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