Vienna (EFE)
Zelenski addressed the Parliament of neutral Austria for the first time on Thursday, which he thanked for the humanitarian aid offered since the start of the invasion of Russia just 400 days ago.
In a telematic intervention from Ukraine, the president was convinced that “in the end Ukraine will win the war, because the bad always loses.”
“We want security and peace for Ukraine, we don’t want anyone to suffer. We want all the international conventions to work. Is that too much to ask?” Zelensky said, according to simultaneous translation provided by the Austrian parliament.
“Thanks to Austria for the humanitarian aid, for the support to the energy sector, the demining in our territory and for the medical attention of the victims of the Russian aggression”, concluded the president in a speech of about ten minutes.
Absence of ultranationalists, close to Putin
Zelensky’s intervention was marked by the absence of the 31 deputies from the ultranationalist FPÖ party, who left posters with slogans such as “a site for peace” and “a site for neutrality” on their seats.
The FPÖ, led by right-wing extremist Herbert Kickl, currently leads the polls in the Alpine republic, with close to 30%.
This party, which since 2000 has formed part of government coalitions three times with the Christian Democratic People’s Party (ÖVP), had for years a friendship agreement with the ruling United Russia party of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Since 1955 Austria has been a neutral country, although since 1995 it has been part of the European Union (EU) and participates in different NATO programs.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the Government of Vienna has maintained that military neutrality but has shown solidarity with Ukraine and its population, has condemned the Russian invasion and has demanded that Ukrainian territorial integrity be respected.
Following this maxim, the country does not send weapons to Ukraine but it does send humanitarian aid, such as generators, ambulances, fire trucks, medicines and other civilian equipment.
In addition, Austria has hosted some 94,000 Ukrainian refugees, while some 200 Austrian companies are still active in Ukraine.
Apart from Bulgaria and Hungary, Austria was until today the only EU country in whose parliament the Ukrainian president had not yet spoken.