Thunderous applause as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses British Parliament during surprise visit to UK

Colombo(News 1st) - Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky received a thunderous standing ovation when he addressed a ceremonial joint session of the two houses of Britain's Parliament - the House of Lords and the House of Commons - during a surprise visit to the UK on Wednesday (8th).

Zelensky was greeted at Stansted Airport by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and traveled to 10, Downing Street before visiting Parliament. He was to later met King Charles. He is scheduled to travel to Brussels to address the European Parliament on Thursday.

Declaring that "Freedom will win. Russia will lose," Zelensky thanked the UK for its steadfast support for Ukraine in its war against Russia, which invaded a year ago, and made an impassioned plea for fighter aircraft. A few hours earlier, the UK government announced that it would begin training Ukrainian pilots to fly NATO-type jets. Zelensky last week won pledges for the supply of hundreds of modern battle tanks from a host of NATO nations, including Challenger IIs from the UK, Leopard IIs from Germany, and M1A2 Abrams from the United States.

It was his third visit overseas since the war began, having visited the United States and also Ukraine's neighbor Poland.