Zelensky and the Pilot’s Helmet — Ukrainian president gives British Parliament a masterclass in diplomacy

It was like something out of the movie The Darkest Hour when the British Parliament erupted into applause in support of Winston Churchill’s vow to fight Adolf Hitler to the finish.

The tiny frame of the Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, receiving repeated standing ovations and cheers in the 1,000-year-old Westminster Hall was a sight and sound to behold.

He strode purposefully down the side of Westminster Hall, his diminutive frame clad in his trademark military fatigues, dwarfed by a long entourage of burly security guards, his own Ukrainian military colleagues in uniform and the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, in ceremonial robes.

The scene was in sharp contrast to his address to an orderly crowd in the US Congress last year. 

Members of the Commons and House of Lords were given only a couple of hours’ notice about the visit and guests to Parliament were rushed in via the Portcullis House underground approach.

The throng of standing parliamentarians had more the look and feel of a political rally than an address by a visiting head of state.

The manager of the hotel where Zelensky and his large entourage had overnighted — situated in the heart of Whitehall — said he had never seen security on that scale.

Before visiting Parliament, Zelensky had met British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Downing Street, met Foreign Secretary James Cleverly in the hotel and sat in the chair in the underground Cabinet War Rooms from where Churchill directed key moments in World War 2.

Standing on the steps of the cavernous hall pleading for fighter planes to defeat the Russians was a moment of history as whispers were heard about the consequences — World War 3 was mentioned. 

Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky addresses parliamentarians in Westminster Hall on 8 February 2023 in London, England. (Photo: Stefan Rousseau - Pool / Getty Images)