Address by the Prime Minister Kaja Kallas to the European Parliament

It is an honour and a privilege to be able to address you today. The European Parliament is not only a great house of European democracy; it has also been my political base for four years. So here I feel at home, among friends. #Estonia #Kallas #NATO #Ukriane #Russia #war Sadly, our fellow Europeans in Ukraine cannot say the same. They are fighting for their homeland, for their loved ones, their freedom to choose their own destiny. The Ukrainian armed forces are putting up a fierce resistance that President #Putin did not expect. Ordinary people are on the streets showing the flag to the invading army, inviting them to go home. Ukrainian farmers have become famous for towing captured tanks back home. One story circulating on social media even speaks of a woman who downed a Russian drone from her balcony by throwing a jar of pickles at it. (She contested that it was actually pickled tomatoes) “How,” asks the commentator, “did they expect to occupy this country?” At the same time, many others are streaming across borders—over 2 million have reached safety in the European Union. These refugees will keep coming. In the words of one humanitarian worker, “in a conflict, always watch which way the refugees are going.” In the current war, they are headed for the EU, not Russia. Putin's war is an act of raw military aggression against an independent and sovereign country that wants nothing more than to fulfil its own European dream. The aim is to terrorise civilians. We have seen it before in Grozny and Aleppo: kindergartens, hospitals, residential buildings are targeted, in contravention of international humanitarian law. You have been doomscrolling on your phones just like I have. So I do not need to tell you of the atrocities taking place now, everyday, in places like Kharkiv, Mariopul as well as Kyiv, where many people are without water, electricity, food. Putin’s war has also left ordinary Russians without access to the truth,…