Zelenskyy invokes 9/11 and Pearl Harbor in desperate plea for help to Congress

On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered a speech to the U.S. Congress, desperately asking for increased assistance to repel the Russian invasion and end the killing of civilians — invoking mass casualty attacks on the United States and saying this requires the same urgency.

"Remember Pearl Harbor," he said. "Remember September 11 ... our country experiences the same every day, right now, at this moment." He also paraphrased Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous speech at the March on Washington, saying, "I have a need. I need to protect our free sky."

Zelenskyy redoubled his call for the U.S. to establish a "no fly zone" to directly shoot down Russian aircraft over Ukraine, a measure President Joe Biden has ruled out, unless Russia attacks NATO territory, for fear of the conflict escalating to world war. He also asked for aircraft transfers, and for the existing embargo against Russia to be toughened, saying, "New packages of sanctions are needed every week."