“We defeated Russia in the battle for minds of the world,” Volodymyr Zelensky declared in his address to a joint session of Congress last night, “against all odds and doom-and-gloom scenarios.” The president of Ukraine made his first international trip to the US since the start of the war to thank America for its efforts to sustain Ukraine’s resistance to the massive Russian invasion — and to remind Congress that the war continues.

It is a war, Zelensky argued, not just for the life and freedom of Ukrainians and any other nations Russia wants to conquer afterward. It is a struggle to define the entire world for future generations. “This battle cannot be frozen or postponed. It cannot be ignored, hoping that the ocean or something else will provide a protection,” Zelensky declared. “Our two nations are allies in this battle.”

So far, anyway. Zelensky didn’t just come to thank the US for the assistance we provided. As allies in the battle and at risk for the instability that will come from an imperial Russia, Zelensky urged Congress to continue its support for Ukraine, and to increase it:

So, so, here the front line, the tyranny which has no lack of cruelty against the lives of free people — and your support is crucial, not just to stand in such fight but to get to the turning point to win on the battlefield.

We have artillery, yes. Thank you. We have it. Is it enough? Honestly, not really. To ensure Bakhmut is not just a stronghold that holds back the Russian Army, but for the Russian Army to completely pull out, more cannons and shells are needed. If so, just like the Battle of Saratoga, the fight for Bakhmut will change the trajectory of our war for independence and for freedom.

If your Patriots stop the Russian terror against our cities, it will let Ukrainian patriots work to the full to defend our freedom. When Russia — when Russia cannot reach our cities by its artillery, it tries to destroy them with missile attacks. More than that, Russia found an ally in this — in this genocidal policy: Iran. Iranian deadly drones sent to Russia in hundreds — in hundreds became a threat to our critical infrastructure. That is how one terrorist has found the other.

It is just a matter of time when they will strike against your other allies if we do not stop them now. We must do it.

Zelensky also wants the US to lead an escalation of sanctions against the “terrorist state” that started this war for no good reason whatsoever, and the other terrorist state that’s supplying them with arms:

You can strengthen sanctions to make Russia feel how ruinous its aggression truly is. It is in your power, really, to help us bring to justice everyone who started this unprovoked and criminal war. Let’s do it. Let terrorist — let the terrorist state be held responsible for its terror and aggression and compensate all losses done by this war. Let the world see that the United States are here.

Zelensky finished with an emotional appeal, quoting Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s response to Pearl Harbor to pledge to fight until “absolute victory” is achieved. He presented a Ukrainian battle flag from Bakhmut to salute Congress, but also to remind the members of their critical role in that victory:

I know that everything depends on us, on Ukrainian armed forces, yet so much depends on the world. So much in the world depends on you. When I was in Bakhmut yesterday, our heroes gave me the flag, the battle flag, the flag of those who defend Ukraine, Europe and the world at the cost of their lives. They asked me to bring this flag to you, to the U.S. Congress, to members of the House of Representatives and senators whose decisions can save millions of people.

So, let these decisions be taken. Let this flag stay with you, ladies and gentlemen. This flag is a symbol of our victory in this war. We stand, we fight and we will win because we are united — Ukraine, America and the entire free world.

Zelensky’s speech can only be called a smashing success on the merits. Will it move Congress to dial down its growing unease with the spending in Ukraine? That’s another question entirely. The current omnibus bill has $45 billion set aside for Ukraine’s war effort on top of the billions we have already spent, and some members are rightly asking whether this is becoming a blank check of sorts. And some wonder whether extending the risk to America in this fallout from Russia’s past and future imperialist struggles.

My friend and colleague Stephen “Vodkapundit” Green had the most concise and accurate take on this point:

Pick 2.

Zelensky says and does a lot of stupid shit.

Zelensky is commanding a surprisingly effective war effort.

Our aid to Ukraine includes shit-tons of graft and waste.

Our aid to Ukraine is preventing a wider war, cheap.

You don't have to pick 2 because they're all true.

— Stephen Green (@VodkaPundit) December 21, 2022

Had Russia quickly absorbed Ukraine, their forces would have turned quickly to either Georgia or Moldovia, where Putin has long had territorial ambitions and had fomented ethnic strife for years. He’s also tried to do that in the Baltic states, and before invading Ukraine had hinted that the three (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia) really belonged to Russia proper.  At the very least, our aid to Ukraine is helping to degrade Putin’s military to the point where it won’t pose anywhere near the kind of threat it had in the past.

Does that mean we need to follow the same path that we have this year? Should we force Ukraine to give some territorial concessions to get peace? Yesterday, Joe Biden declared that he was open to a settlement that would result in a “just peace” in Ukraine, but that Zelensky and the Ukrainians would define what that means.

In regards to negotiations with Putin, Biden stressed that Zelenskyy is open to talks while the Russian leader isn’t.

“You have made it clear that he is open to pursuing. Let me put it this way, he’s not open, but you’re open to pursuing peace,” Biden said. “You’re open to pursuing a just peace. We know that Putin has no intention, no intention of stopping this cold war.”

Zelenskyy described a just peace as “no compromises as to the sovereignty, freedom and territorial integrity of my country.” In recent weeks, Putin has said he won’t consider peace talks with Ukraine if it means he has to concede territory that he illegally annexed.

If nothing else, 2022 proved Mitt Romney entirely correct and prescient a decade earlier. Russia may or may not be our top geopolitical foe, but it is the most dangerously imperial and capricious of the top three. Now it’s combining with another of that triad, Iran, in the war on Ukraine, and China is watching closely to see how firm we will remain in opposing the aims of Russia and Iran. This may not be exactly what we wanted for 2022 or 2023, but Stephen’s calculus remains correct. If we throw in the towel or give Ukraine the Munich treatment, we are signaling to all three of our main geopolitical foes that we don’t have the stomach to defend our interests and those of our allies.

Here is the full speech from Volodymyr Zelensky — a very moving and powerful speech, entirely in English except for the slava Ukraini! at the end.