The brave Ukrainian people are awarded the European Parliament’s 2022 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in a ceremony, in Strasbourg. Volodymyr ZELENSKYY addresses the plenary chamber remotely. Oleksandra MATVIYCHUK, Human rights lawyer and Chair of the Center for Civil Liberties; Ivan FEDOROV, Mayor of the Ukrainian city of Melitopol; Yaroslav BOZHKO from the Yellow Riboon Civil Resistance Movment; Yulia PAJEVSKA, founder of the medical evacuation unit Angels of Taira; Oleksandr CHEKRYHIN and Stanislav KULYKIVSKI from the State Emergency Service and Vsevolod CHENTSOV, Head of the Mission of Ukraine to the European Union, receive the prize in the hemicycle. Extracts from the ceremony: statement by Roberta METSOLA, EP President, address to the plenary by Volodymyr ZELENSKYY, President of Ukraine.

EU - Ukraine (T)

statement

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

troubles in Ukraine (T)

ceremony

METSOLA, Roberta (EPP, MT, EP President)

solidarity with Ukraine (T)

ZELENSKYY, Volodymyr (UA)

Ukraine's application for EU membership (T)

Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought 2022 (T)

VSEVOLOD, Chentsov

consequences of the war in Ukraine (T)

FEDOROV, Ivan

BOZHKO, Yaroslav

MATVIYCHUK, Oleksandra

Award of the 2022 Sakharov Prize: extracts from the ceremony

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Dear 2022 Sakharov Prize finalists, dear colleagues, it is my privilege to welcome you all to the European Parliament for the 2022 Sakharov Prize award ceremony.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Let today's award serve as a reminder of our uwavering support. And let it be dedicated to all those brave Ukrainian men an dwomen on the ground. To all those we have welcomed with open hearts into our homes. And to all those who have lost their beloved family and friends. I know that the brave people of Ukraine wil not give up. And let me assure you that neither will we. Slava Ukraini. It is now my honour to give the floor to the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr ZELENSKYY. President Zelenskyy, you have the floor.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Volodymyr ZELENSKY, President of Ukraine, Thank you. Thank you, Roberta. Thank you. Madam President. Dear Roberta. Dear friends, I greet you on behalf of all our people. It's a great honour. I greet you on behalf of those who are fighting, who work for the sake of Ukraine and for the sake of freedom.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Volodymyr ZELENSKY, President of Ukraine, I ask you all to observe a minute's silence in memory of all Ukrainian men and women, all adults and children, all military and civilians whose lives were taken by this Russian war, by this deplorable war.

Atmosphere shots of the minute of silence

SOUNDBITE (Original), Volodymyr ZELENSKY, President of Ukraine, Europe must give the strongest possible signal that there will be no gap in the history of tragedies on our continent, in the history of crimes against humanity and humanity committed in our land. I believe that it will be so. Thank you for your support. Thank you for supporting and celebrating our struggle.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Volodymyr ZELENSKY, President of Ukraine, Glory to all our soldiers. Glory to each and every one who defends freedom in our people. Glory to Ukraine.

Applause in the plenary after Volodymyr ZELENSKYY's speech

Hand-over of the Sakharov Prize to the laureates