Zelensky urges Italy to beef up sanctions, says 117 children killed in Russian invasion

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the Italian parliament via videolink, on March 22, 2022 in Rome. (REMO CASILLI / POOL / AFP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the Italian parliament via videolink, on March 22, 2022 in Rome. (REMO CASILLI / POOL / AFP)

ROME — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is urging Italy to beef up sanctions against Russia and seize more assets from President Vladimir Putin and his allies as a way of pressuring Moscow into negotiating an end to the war.

Zelensky speaks to the Italian parliament via video from Kyiv, as he has done with other foreign parliaments.

Wearing a collared shirt and speaking through an Italian translator, Zelensky tells Italian lawmakers that he has just spoken by phone to Pope Francis and that the pontiff had endorsed Ukraine’s right to defend itself.

He says that 117 children have been killed in the war with Russia and that the city of Mariupol has been flattened by the Russian onslaught.

He warns that Europe’s security is at risk if Russia advances and that grain deliveries to the developing world are being jeopardized because Ukraine’s farmers can’t plant crops.

Italian Premier Mario Draghi praises the “heroic” resistance of the Ukrainian people.

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