Zelensky delivers an emotional plea to Congress: ‘I call on you to do more.’

President Volodomyr Zelensky of Ukraine made an urgent and emotional appeal to Congress on Wednesday to come to his country’s aid as it fights off a brutal Russian invasion, asking help protecting its air space, military assistance and stronger sanctions as part of what he cast as a war for the cause of democracy itself.

In a remarkably direct appeal by a wartime leader to policymakers in Washington, Mr. Zelensky addressed lawmakers on a large screen in a movie theater-style auditorium under the Capitol, invoking the memories of Pearl Harbor and the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks — when the United States came under attack — as he pleaded for support saying, “we need you right now.”

In remarks translated from Ukrainian, he said starkly: “I call on you to do more.”