hello, this is impact. i'm yalda hakim. president zelensky of ukraine is visiting britain today in only his second trip abroad since the russian invasion. this is the scene live in westminster. also on the programme... aid agencies warn that time is running out to find earthquake survivors in turkey and syria. as rescue operations continue in turkey and syria, the death toll has now reached more than 11,000 people. turkey's president erdogan is seeing the devastation for himself, meeting residents at the epicenter of the quake.

that's all coming up here on impact. the president of ukraine, volodomyr zelensky, is making a surprise visit to britain for only his second trip abroad since the russian invasion of his country almost a year ago. he is addressing the houses of parliament. let's take a look. cheering and applause

mr president, welcome. not many people stood here today in this significant setting will realise that our friendship began on the 8th of october 2020, when you wear the first ever head of state that i met as speaker. we hit it off immediately with much laughter over an english afternoon tea and, of course, chorley cakes. we forged an instant bond, despite wearing masks and being socially distance at the opposite ends of a large table. because we were working out how to deal with covid. little did we know the relationship would grow in such turbulent times. on the 24th of

february 2022, the second invasion of ukraine began. 0n the 8th of march 2022, there was another first for us both. i suspended the house of commons so that you could address in ukrainian through the screens in our chamber, which we still refer to them as zelensky screens. the atmosphere was electrifying, you could hear a pin drop before you came online, a very, very rare thing in the house of commons. you spelt out the horrors of the first 13 days of war. your speech was devastating and powerful. today, on the 8th of february 2023, now deep into the war, we are honoured that you have put yourself at risk to address us and again, shine a light on the fact your country is still fighting for

its survival. this hall has been the place of many great historical events. your presence here today adds another to them. the war, as you know better than any of us, has lasted for nearly a year. as you told us last year, this is a war that ukraine did not start and did not want. but it is a war you have had to fight and our commitment to support you and your people has not wavered. i was considering what could be said at this important occasion? i thought back to the 19905. occasion? i thought back to the 1990s. then we hoped all countries that emerge from the former soviet union could secure freedom and prosperity. there was a moment of hope over that time and we knew it would be a long time but each country could choose its own destiny. it is a tragedy that

ukraine's efforts to bring freedom, prosperity to its people has been met with war and death. last year, building on ourfriendship i welcomed your wife to parliament to open, deliberately, a provocative exhibition. i wanted to ensure the experience of your people is kept at the forefront of our minds. they do not believe any of us in this room where complacent about the reality of conflict, but those displays shocked us, those images stay with us, they brought home the horrors of war. horrors inflicted on your people, fighters, civilians alike, horrors which cannot be avoided or denied. i applaud horrors which cannot be avoided or denied. iapplaud ukraine's horrors which cannot be avoided or denied. i applaud ukraine's refusal to forget what it is you and your

people are fighting for. in the words of your ukrainian eurovision winners... i always find my way home, even if all roads are destroyed. fighting for a country is not simply fighting for territory, it is a fight for home and an ideal. the endurance of the people, the people of ukraine honours those ideals, the refusal to allow the war to destroy humanity. quite rightly, last year you said ukrainians have become big over the 13 days of this war. you have become even bigger in your determination, notjust to fight for your country, but to stand by the ideals you are fighting for. we will not give up on those ideals, we will continue to support you against that russian aggressor. i

pledge here today in front of all of you, to do all i can to keep the plight of ukraine in the spotlight. later this year the uk and ukraine will be united in music, but we will always be united in our unwavering belief in the power of democracy. mr president, please. cheering and applause thank you so much. thank you. the people of the united kingdom and

their honourable representatives, all the people of england, scotland, of wales and northern ireland, of all the lands which have been home to brave souls since europe came into existence. i have come here and stand before you on behalf of the brave, on behalf of our heroes who are now in the trenches under enemy artillery fire, a behalf of our air gunners and every defender of the sky who protects ukraine against enemy, aircrafts and missiles. 0n enemy, aircrafts and missiles. on behalf of our tank men who fight to restore our ukrainian borders, a behalf of our conscripts who have been trained now, including here in britain. thank you, britton.

applause. and he will be deployed to the front line, front line, skilled, equipped and eager to win. 0n line, front line, skilled, equipped and eager to win. on behalf of every father and every mother who are waiting for their brave sons and daughters back home from the war. mr speaker, you may, ithink, remember two years ago we met with you here in parliament and it was a great honourfor me. i remember, we enjoyed tea... laughter. we talked of course, we talked a lot

about our people and about our countries, about the british and ukrainian political traditions. prime minister, when we had our meeting today and i said to you that i would tell you, i will tell the story in my address to the parliament and a story about my feelings on my first visit to london as president in autumn 2020. the programme was packed with your royal highness is william and catherine, buckingham palace and an aircraft carrier of the royal navy. westminster, of course, downing street and the war rooms. and in the

war room, famous churchill and the guide smiled and offered me to sit down. in the arm chair where orders had been given. he asked me how did ifeel? and i said that had been given. he asked me how did i feel? and i said that i suddenly felt something... but it is only now that i know what the feeling was. and all ukrainians know it perfectly well, too. it is a feeling of how bravery takes you through the most unimaginable hardships to finally reward you with victory. applause.

ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, i thank you for your bravery. thank you very much from all... from all of us. yes please, thatis all... from all of us. yes please, that is for you, the applause is for you. applause. london has stood with kyiv since day one. from the first seconds and minutes of the full—scale war, great britain, you extended your helping hand when the world had yet to come to understand how to react. boris, you got others united when it seemed

absolutely, absolutely impossible. thank you. applause. you, all of you you all showed your great character back then, strong british character. he didn't compromise ukraine and you didn't compromise ukraine and you didn't compromise your ideals and thus you didn't compromise the spirit of these great islands. thank you very much. applause. and of course, of course, everybody understands that our countries, absolutely different times, our

nations defended freedom in the second world war. the iron curtain divided us, our people went through crisis, inflation and periods of social losses and social gains. it was tough but we always found friends and stamina to move ahead and achieve results. this is the bedrock of our land and your traditions. ukrainians and british defeated the fear of war and had the time to enjoy peace. no matter what we encountered on different stages of our endurable history and you and us and the whole of mankind achieve similar results. evil lost.

applause. evil lost. we will always come out on top of evil. this lies at the core of our, but also your traditions. however, the horizon never stays clear for a while once the old evil is defeated, the new one is attempting to rise its head. i do have a feeling that evil will crumble once again. i can see in your eyes now, we think the same way as you do. we know freedom will win. applause. we know... we know russia will lose.

applause. we really know victory will change the world and this will be a change that the world long needed. applause. the united kingdom is marching with us towards the most, i think the most important victory of our lifetime. it will be a victory over the very idea of the war. after weaving together, any aggressor, it doesn't matter, big or small will know what awaits him if he attacks international order. any aggressor... any aggressor who will try to push the boundaries by force, inflict destruction and death on

other people, he will try to endure his dictatorship at the expense of other people's blood in criminal and unprovoked wars like the kremlin does. any aggressor is going to lose. applause. ladies and gentlemen, we have already achieved remarkable results and we must make every effort to turn our achievements into the foundations of the future global security architecture the world, the world needs your leadership, britain, just as it needs ukrainian bravery. applause.

when the full—scale invasion began we, together with you britain and the united states and other allies formed a true coalition of friends. that is very important, you were among those very few who have helped before the large scale invasion began, exactly as it will be necessary every time in the future to prevent aggression from happening. your help was preventive, we must take these principles of preventive aid to those who are threatened with aggression and preventive sanctions against those who threaten aggression as basic principles of the world anti—war policy. thank you. it stopped the

advance of the russian army from the first day of the invasion. applause. rebuild the coalition of artillery and coalition of air defence which allow us to save the lives of our children, of our people, of all civilians, of all women, of our elderly and saves us from russian occupation. we put together a powerful sanction coalition and your leadership is tackling international order through sanctions against a terrorist state cannot be questioned. we have two steadily continue along this way until russia is deprived of any possibility to finance the war. most importantly,

together with the g7 we brought about a coalition that protects the rules of world based order and human rights. a coalition that will work in such a way that in time there will simply be no grey areas in the world where human life simply doesn't matter. in order for it to be so, there must be justice. doesn't matter. in order for it to be so, there must bejustice. anyone who invests in terror must be held accountable. anyone, anyone who invests in violence must compensate those who have suffered from terror. applause.

terre, aggression or other forms of state violence. 0ur proposals for them the creation of a special tribunal for the russian aggression against ukraine and special compensation mechanism which will compensate war losses at the expense of russian assets are based on such principles. justice is one of the elements of the peace formula proposed by ukraine and supported by britain. i thank you for your readiness to invoke the formula, thank you, prime minister. thank you very much. applause. as i already mentioned, ukrainian soldiers are being trained in

britain, in particularto soldiers are being trained in britain, in particular to operate challenges. the main battle tanks and the attack coalition in action. thank you, rishi sunak. thank you for this powerful defensive step for tank assistance. thank you. the coalition of long—range missiles, it will allow us to make the evil completely retreat from our country by destroying its enemies deep in the occupied territories. and it's notjust, i am the occupied territories. and it's notjust, iam not the occupied territories. and it's notjust, i am not speaking just about weapons, we have proved together that the world truly helps those who are brave in defending freedom and thus paves the way for a

new history. the history of the world, history of the world that knows how to be quick in help. who knows how to be quick in help. who knows how to be quick in help. who knows how to be effective in defence, who knows how to remain principled in dark hours. who implements its arrangements in good faith, who does not allow perpetrators to enjoy immunity. who knows how to overcome veto when it is abused, who knows no fear and who knows how to win. this shall be the new reality of the free world, i'm sure. applause.

however, evil is still around today and the battle continues. yes, we know how it is going to end and how we are going to feel on the day victory comes. every day we continue to pay with lives, pain and tears for bringing victory closer. with the lives of our people, our heroes whom we lose in battles, with the lives of our heroes who take life and death risks every day to save as many of our soldiers and civilians as possible. and today i will have

the honour to be received by his majesty the king. it will be a truly special moment for me. for our country. in particular i will convey to him from the ukrainians, the words of gratitude for the support his majesty show to them when he was still the prince of wales. i also intend to tell him something that i think is very, very important, not only for the future of ukraine, but also for the future of europe. in britain, the king is an air force pilot. and in ukraine today, every

air force pilot is a king. applause. just for us, for our families because they are so few, they are so precious we are the servants of our kings and do everything possible and impossible to make the world provide us with aeroplanes to empower and protect pilots who will be protecting us. i am proud of our air

force and i present from you, great britain... applause. i will explain, it is the helmet of a real ukrainian pilot. he is one of our most successful pilots and one of our kings. the writing on the helmet reads, "we have freedom, give us wings to protect it".

applause. i trust this symbol will help us for our next coalition, a coalition of the plains and i appeal to you and the plains and i appeal to you and the world with simple and yet most important words, combat aircraft for ukraine, wings forfreedom. ukraine, wings for freedom. applause. great britain, great britain you and us both struggle for peace, but instead we are forced to face the thing that deprives us of peace and thatis thing that deprives us of peace and that is valuable in life. unfortunately, it is human nature to

make sure evil stands up against humanity, it breaks people's lives. you and us have already fought together against such evil. you and us already have the experience of defeating the evil that is generated by human nature. i am not saying there will be no more wars after the war ends, no, there will be no more wars after the warends, no, it is there will be no more wars after the war ends, no, it is impossible to completely erase evil from human nature. yet, it is in our power to guarantee with words and deeds that the light side of human nature will prevail. the side you and us share

and this stands above anything else. thank you for your attention, thank you for your support and in the british parliament two years ago i thanked you for delicious english tea. laughter. and i will be leaving the parliament today thanking all of you in advance for powerful english planes. laughter. applause. by by the way, it's almost five o'clock. god bless great britain,

and long, long