'Fight for Ukraine': Zelenskyy urges attendees at Sean Penn's CORE charity event

As the Russia-Ukraine war entered its 110th day, embattled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the attendees at actor Sean Penn's CORE Foundation's charity event to support and fight for the war-torn nation as Ukraine fights for the world. In a video message to the charity attendees, Zelenskyy expressed gratitude to everyone “who has come here today for the sake of this help – help for Ukraine.”

He said, “Mr Sean Penn, who has been personally in Kyiv and Ukraine since the first day of the war and has seen firsthand this evil, which is called Russian full-scale aggression”, as per a statement from the President of Ukraine’s office.  

The Ukrainian President pointed out that Russia which commenced the full-scale war against Ukraine on February 24, has been behind tens of thousands of bombardments and shootings, leading to hundreds of thousands being injured and killed, millions of people being displaced, and peaceful cities and villages getting erased from the face of the earth. He further claimed that all of these catastrophes are currently the reality for Ukrainians. 

'All this is our reality'

Pointing at pictures depicting the devastation in Ukraine caused by the Russian aggression, Zelenskyy said, “All of this is not the scenery of a blockbuster about the apocalypse. All of this is our reality.” Further displaying photographs and videos of the impact of Russian cruise missiles that hit schools, hospitals, theatres, and museums, as well as destroyed entire streets and communities, the Ukrainian President said, "It is not VFX, not computer graphics. All of this is our reality”.  

Apart from these, Zelensky emphasised in the video message during the CORE charity event that they will reconstruct Ukraine, its streets and neighbourhoods, and that "bodies" will "heal from wounds" and hearts will recover from losses. 

According to the statement by the Ukrainian President's office, Zelenskyy said, “During World War II, when all the metal was needed at the front line, the Oscar statuette was made of plaster. It can fairly be said that this is a symbolic gesture that does not drastically affect the course of the war, but we cannot claim that the world would have defeated Nazism without a piece of metal... That is why we know that any help is valuable and important".  

Zelenskyy named as winner of the Boris Nemtsov Prize 2022

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy was named the winner of the Boris Nemtsov Prize 2022 on Sunday for his bravery in guiding his nation through the continuing battle with Russia. According to a Ukrinform report, Zelenskyy won over a slew of other candidates, including Vitali Klitschko, the Mayor of Kyiv, Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, the leader of the Okean Elzy band, Yuliia Paievska (Taira), the creator of a unit of battle volunteer medics, and Oleksiy Arestovych, presidential adviser.

Since Russia's unjustified attack on Ukraine on February 24, Zelenskyy has remained steadfast in his pursuit of victory, refusing to surrender to Russian soldiers. 

(Image: AP/Shutterstock)