Zelenskiy urges Germany: tear down wall dividing free and unfree Europe

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addresses Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, via videolink, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Berlin, Germany, March 17, 2022. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse

BERLIN (Reuters) -Invoking the fall of the Berlin Wall, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday urged German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to tear down what he called a wall between "free and unfree" Europe and stop the war in Ukraine.

Speaking to the Bundestag by videolink, Zelenskiy appealed to Scholz to restore freedom to Ukraine, tapping Germany's collective memory with reference to the historic 1948-1949 Berlin Airlift and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.