MP Bob Zimmer met with Fort St. John city councillors Tony Zabinsky, Lilia Hansen, and Byron Stewart on Tuesday afternoon to raise the Ukrainian flag at city hall.
City council voted last month to fly the flag for 30 days in solidarity with Ukraine as it remains under siege from Russia's military invasion.
Earlier today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed parliamentarians in Ottawa, and pleaded with Canadians to imagine the terror and horror unfolding in his country, to do more to close Ukraine's skies to Russian bombs, and to starve out every last dollar for Russia to fund its war.
Zelenskyy appeared by video link from Ukraine where the Russian invasion is now in its 20th day. The death toll confirmed by the United Nations is now close to 700.
The president said 97 of the dead are children.
"Every night is a horrible night," he said, speaking in Ukrainian, to a crowded House of Commons where almost every MP, many senators, and dozens of members of the public gathered to listen.
"We are not asking for much. We're asking for justice, for real support."
In a speech lasting more than 20 minutes, he asked Canadians to imagine if Russian bombs were falling in cities like Vancouver, Edmonton or Toronto, or if it were their children asking why there was a war.
"Can you imagine when you call your friends, your friendly nations, and you ask, 'Please close the sky, please close the airspace. Please stop the bombing. How many more cruise missiles have to fall on our cities before you make this happen?'" he said. "And they, in return, express their deep concerns about the situation … and they say, 'Please hold on a little longer.'"
He said he does not wish the war on anyone but he wants, and needs, Canadians and others around the world to understand "what we feel every day. We want to live and we want to be victorious. We want to prevail for the sake of life."
— with files from Canadian Press
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