Zelenskiy Evokes Reagan Speech In Telling Berlin To 'Tear Down Wall' Russia Is Creating

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has made an impassioned plea to German lawmakers to "tear down" the wall Russia is building to divide Europe with its invasion of Ukraine.

"It's not a Berlin Wall -- it is a wall in Central Europe between freedom and bondage and this wall is growing bigger with every bomb" dropped on our country, Zelenskiy told lawmakers gathered in the German Bundestag in Berlin on March 17.

"Dear Mr. Scholz, tear down this wall," he implored German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, evoking the iconic appeal by then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan during a June 1987 speech in front of the Brandenberg Gate, where he challenged Soviet counterpart Mikhail Gorbachev to do the same.

Zelenskiy's address comes after similar speeches to lawmakers in Canada and the United States as he presses for more support to turn back Russian forces, who began their unprovoked attack on February 24.

The Ukrainian leader urged Berlin to support his country's push to join the European Union, but he also chided it for failing to act quickly to cancel its participation in the Nord Stream 2 natural-gas pipeline with Russia, even as signs grew that the invasion was imminent.

"Economy, economy, economy," was the answer to Ukraine's calls for the project to be dropped, Zelenskiy said.

Germany indefinitely suspended the project, which was designed to double the gas-flow capacity from Russia to Germany, on February 22 after Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would recognize the independence bids of Moscow-backed separatists who control parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine.

The 1,225-kilometer, $11 billion pipeline was completed but had not yet begun operating while it waited for certification from German regulators.

Scholz said on February 22 that a key document required for the certification of the pipeline would be withdrawn, essentially ending the project for now.

Critics of the pipeline, including Biden and many members of Congress, have said the pipeline will only increase Europe's dependency on Russian gas and undermine Ukraine by depriving it of transit fees collected by existing pipelines that cross its territory.