President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the most influential people of the world to stop the biggest European war in the last 77 years. In his video address recorded on the occasion of the Times100 Gala, he emphasized that it's time to be 100 percent influential.
"Besides myself, this year’s top five features Elon Musk, Great Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, medical workers who fought Covid, and the US President Joe Biden. This ranking of the most influential is made at a time when Europe is experiencing the worst war in 77 years. The war we cannot stop yet. We can defeat tyranny. All of us, all the leaders of our time. We can reliably defend freedom. We can stop blackmail by a person who has no place on our list at all," – he stated.
Zelenskyy added that ranked second at the top of the most influential was Elon Musk – a person who launches rockets and opens a new space of possibilities.
"But the world leader's thoughts are not occupied with Elon. Not with his rockets that provide progress in life. Their thoughts are dedicated to the one who launches missiles at civilians and destroys lives. In 105 days of the full-scale war, Russia has used about 2,600 different missiles against Ukrainian cities, most of them against civilian facilities," – President stressed.
President voiced a question: which rockets really make influence: those that serve science or those that serve death? One of those rockets killed three generations of a family in Odesa. Kira who was killed by this attack was only one month old.
"I have so much respect for Boris Johnson. But, unfortunately, it doesn't depend on him whether millions of people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America will have food on their tables. It is the Russian fleet – not the British one or any other – that has blocked Ukraine’s Black Sea ports so that the world is on the brink of a terrible food crisis," – the President mentioned.
Food can start physically lacking in dozens of countries of the world. Millions of people will be starving.
"While we are looking for ways to protect freedom, another person is destroying it. He is another in every sense of the word, particularly, in the way this person is fighting for influence. And I have a question: why is this “otherness” still acceptable to certain leaders and countries? I leave this question to you," – Zelenskyy added.
He mentioned that it was absolutely fair to celebrate medics who fought against Covid. They are the heroes of their time and through their work, they encouraged the whole world to unite. Closed borders and providing themselves with vaccines didn't help against Covid-19, subsequently, it became obvious that there are no borders for the virus and there can be no defence against it within national borders.
"Why is this happening again? Why is it so difficult? Weapons and sanctions are also a vaccine. Hatred is a virus, and it's even more deadly than COVID-19. It is spread through propaganda. Thanks to Russian oil, which is still on the global market," – he emphasized.
The President stated that dozens of thousands of people have been killed already and millions were forced to leave their homes because of the war.
"When hatred knocks on your door, will you be ready? Will any face mask protect you from the russian Covid-22? And why is the vaccine against it – weapons and sanctions – so difficult to get in sufficient quantities?" – the head of state asked.
Zelenskyy thanked Biden for effective tools to fight against the russian aggression. However, the rf's war is still going on and right now Ukrainian soldiers are dying on the battlefield. The enemy is shelling our cities using artillery and aviation. More than 260 children were killed.
"And when will this end? "When" is the key question. Why is our influence not enough for this? Are we cowards? Maybe we are missing something in our true strength? Maybe we are not using all the capacity of our influence and our leadership? And this is my question to the United States," – the President added.
Zelenskyy is sure that together the leaders of our time can reliably defend freedom, and stop the blackmailing of a person who doesn't belong on the leaders' list.
In May, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy got more than 3,3m votes from Time readers and ranked first with 5% votes. Time100 Gala is an event organized by Time magazine that united the most influential people in the world.