Pelosi war rages in ukraine to protect democracy. All here are in awe and grateful to the ukrainian people that they have displayed unimaginable heroism and they confront unconscionable atrocities. And the Congress Remains with ukraine. Their right to defend democracy, not only for its people but for the world. We are honored to be joined by the first lady of ukraine, olena zelenska, who traveled here from the heart of the war zone. We look forward to hearing her report on security, economic and humanitarian conditions on the ground. Thank you, also, to ambassador for joining us today. Madam ambassador, thank you for joining us. Sitting there with our minority and majority leaders of the house. And we welcome the majority leader of the Senate Republican leader of the senate, senator mcconnell, as well, and members of the senate to the house side. Well, were in the middle of the capitol. Madam first lady, i present to you members of the United States congress, strong supporters of the ukrainian people, and great admirers of you and your husbands leadership. Members of congress, i have the high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you first lady olena zelenska. Slava ukraine. [applause] mrs. Zelenska good morning. Dear members of the congress, ladies and gentlemen. I am grateful for the opportunity to be here and to address the congress of the United States of america. I know this is the first time when the wife of the president of a foreign country has the honor to address you within these walls. This is really important for me and for my country. And today i want to address you as politicians and Party Representatives as well as mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, daughters and sons. I want to address you, not as first lady, but as a daughter and as a mother. No matter what positions and titles we reach in our lives, first of all, we always remain part of our family. We always remain children to our parents. And no matter how old we are, they love us as their children. And we are always parents to our children. And no matter what happens to them, they will always remain our children. This is the great truth of our life. Our family represents the whole world for us. And we do everything to preserve it. And we are happy when we succeed in it. And we cry when we cannot save it. And we remain completely broken when our world is destroyed by war. Tens of thousands of our world have been destroyed in ukraine. I am waiting for a picture to be demonstrated. This is lisa. I met this girl before christmas when we were preparing greetings of christmas, Merry Christmas for children. I remember her just like she is here. A cheerful, playful little rascal. The other video was made by lisas mother, whose name is irena, when she took her child to school. And she asked her, where are we going, sweetie . The daughter calls the name of her favorite teacher. Lisa was only 4 years old. Shes no longer with us. Here is the stroller of lisas. On july 14, lisa was killed by a Russian Missile attack on our city of vinnytsia in the center of ukraine. 25 people were killed. Almost 200 injured. Lisas mother is in serious condition. For several days, nobody dared to tell her that lisa has died. This is our world. Where are we going . Ringing in my ears for six days. Usually the wives of president are exclusively engaged in peaceful affairs, education, human rights, equality, accessibility. And maybe you expected for me to speak on those topics. But how can i talk about them when an unprovoked invasive terrorist war is being waged against my country. Russia is destroying our people. Here is another rocket launch. Here is the city in the south of ukraine. A residential area was hit by a missile. This girl is eva. She liked to draw pictures. She was only 5. Another Russian Missile. Eva was killed along with her grandmother. These young faces are the faces of employees and visitors of the Shopping Mall. They are no more. There is no Shopping Mall because russia burned them down and killed them all. This is a journalist vera. She worked in the ukraine area for 20 years. Last four years working for radio. Since the beginning of the war russia has launched over 3,000 different missiles to ukraine. You dont need a missile. Maybe shrapnel will do it. This man is now alive now in germany. Hes 3 years old. A few days ago, he celebrated his birthday on the 8th of july. You may ask, what is he doing in germany . He is learning there how to use a prosthesis. A 3yearold boy. A russian plane dropped a bomb on the house where the family of andriy spent the night. He was there together with his parents and his sister, anya. How many children like him are there in ukraine . How many families like this may still be destroyed by the war . Those are russias hunger games, hunting for peaceful people in peaceful cities of ukraine. They will not broadcast this on their news. Thats why im showing it to you here. Here is the family of a policeman. His father, mother, wife, 6yearold daughter, as well as 1 1 2monthold son, all of them were shot by the russian occupiers in the car when they were trying to evacuate from nova kahovka. Then i met with ole h. He told me a terrible story. The adults died right away while children for the next 1 1 2 hours were crying in the car until they died. Nobody was able allowed to approach them to save them. Here is sofia, a girl from bucha, who lost her mother during the occupation and her arm and now shes suffering from phantom pains. The family of ole ga olga, she was the village head and saved her fellow villagers from the russian invaders until they left and she was killed along with her son and husband. A family from odessa, three generation of women were killed by one missile. Value knee, her valerie, her mother, and 3monthold daughter. And a 96yearold. Can you imagine this person survived four nazi concentration camps and died in kharkiv from russian shells . So ladies and gentlemen, the American People and american families, the congress and President Biden have already done a lot to help us stand up to the enemy and protect ukrainians. We are grateful, really grateful that the United States stands with us in this fight for our shared values of human life and independence. [applause] you you helped us and your help is very strong. While russia kills, america saves. And you should know about it. We thank you for that. But unfortunately, the war is not over. The terror continues. And i appeal to all of you on behalf of those who were killed, on behalf of those people who lost their arms and legs, on behalf of those who are still alive and well, those who wait for their families to come back from the front, im asking for something now i would never want to. I am asking for weapons. Weapons that would not be used to wage a war on somebody elses land but to protect ones home and the right to wake up alive in that home. Im asking for air Defense Systems in order for rockets not to be killed not to kill children in their strollers. In order for rockets not to destroy childrens rooms and kill entire families. I know that you, ladies and gentlemen, will be leaving for the traditional congressional recess in a week. And all of you will be able to return to your offices in the fall and probably all of you have already your calendar and its normal. Its this normalcy that us ukrainians are deprived of. Will my son be able to return to school in the fall . I dont know. Like millions of families in ukraine. Will my daughter will be able to go to university at the beginning of the Academic Year and experience normal student life . I cannot answer. What will the teachers prepare, work in classrooms or bomb shelters . We will have answers if we had air Defense Systems. In fact, the answer is right here in washington, d. C. America, unfortunately, knows from its own experience what terrorist attacks are and has always sought to defeat terrorists. Help us to stop this terror against ukrainians. And this will be our joy, great victory in the name of life, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness of every person, every family. This is what im asking for and what my husband is asking for. Not as a president ial couple, but as parents and children of their parents. Because we want everybody and every mother to be able to tell their child, go to sleep peacefully. There will be no more air strikes, no more missile strikes. Is this too much to wish for . The fact that i am here as the first lady of my country and have this opportunity to talk to you about weapons is the manifestation of the greatest equality. This is equality among free people. People who know what they are protecting. They know what they live for. I hope you heard me today, and i hope that your decisions will be speedy. Thank you for your attention. Glory to ukraine. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2022] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] russian advances