Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky compared Russia's full-scale invasion to the COVID-19 pandemic, and called it a new virus - COVID-22. He said this during an online speech at the Time 100 Gala.
"Why is it happening again now? Why is it so difficult again? Weapons and sanctions are also a vaccine. The vaccine against COVID-22 that Russia brought. Hate is a virus, and it is even more deadly than COVID-19. It spreads thanks to propaganda. Thanks to the impunity of the murderers. Why is it that for some countries COVID-22 is as seemingly non-existent as COVID-19 was supposedly non-existent for conspiracy theorists? Why aren't some people even taught about blood and death?" - he noted.
Zelensky noted that in the world "something is definitely out of control."
"Whether it's our own influence that we've begun to underestimate, or our attitude toward leadership. An attitude toward what it means to be a leader. When hate comes knocking on your door, will you be ready? Will some mask on your face protect you from the Russian COVID-22? And why is the vaccine against it - weapons and sanctions - so difficult to obtain in sufficient quantities?" - stressed the Ukrainian president.
He stated that world leaders need to be 100% influential.
"We can ensure the defeat of tyranny. All of us, all the leaders of our time. We can reliably protect freedom. We can stop the blackmail resorted to by a man who has no place on our list at all. If we can do it, then we must do it. For influence binds," he summarized.
At the end of May, after almost three months of Russia's war against Ukraine, the readers of Time magazine named Zelensky the most influential man of 2022.
Along with him, the top five also included Tesla and SpaceX CEO Ilon Musk, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, medical professionals who continue to play an important role in the ongoing fight against COVID-19 and U.S. President Joe Biden.
