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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday urged American leaders to cut symbolic and cultural ties with Russian cities at the annual U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Zelensky urged mayors to sever any existing "brotherhood" between several U.S. and Russian cities. The Ukrainian leader said he was referring to multiple American cities that have included Russian cities as part of their "sister city" relationships, such as Chicago, with Moscow, and Jacksonville, Florida, with Murmansk.
"What do these connections give you? Probably nothing. But they give Russia the opportunity to say that it is not isolated, even after beginning such a war," Zelensky said in his address, according to a translation from Ukrinform. "Call for even more pressure on Russia. Don't help it justify itself. Don't maintain ties with it. And please do not allow those who have become murderers to call you their brothers and sisters."
A sister city relationship is typically considered a long-term union between two communities in two different countries. Cities can have dozens of so-called sister cities, and relationships may focus on strengthening cultural, educational, business, or economic ties between the two.Although Zelensky mentioned Chicago in his Saturday speech, the city had already moved to suspend its sister city status with Moscow in March due to the ongoing war.
The Ukrainian leader also mentioned that since the war in Ukraine began, Russia has fired thousands of missiles in the country and occupied over 3,000 settlements. In the Ukrainian town of Bucha, where Russian soldiers have been accused of mass murdering civilians, Zelensky said that some 2,000 buildings have been destroyed, CNN reported.
Rather than maintaining cultural ties to Russia, Zelensky urged U.S. mayors to take part in sponsoring restoration efforts for Ukrainian towns and regions that have been damaged during the war.
"Take patronage over a city, region, or industry that has been destroyed by Russian strikes. And rebuild them with the latest technology," he said, according to CNN. "This may be the largest economic project of our time, which will strengthen Ukraine, each country and each company that will participate in the post-war reconstruction."
The Russia-Ukraine War Enters 100 Days
His comments come 100 days after Russian President Vladimir Putin first ordered troops to invade the Eastern European nation. Since then, Russia has faced significant military setbacks, including failing to capture the capital city of Kyiv, losing at least a dozen top military generals, and facing low morale among troops.
In the last several weeks, Russian forces have concentrated fighting in the nation's highly contested eastern Donbas region, where shelling and airstrikes have reduced large portions of towns and cities to rubble. Earlier this week, Zelensky said that tens of thousands of Ukrainian citizens have died, while up to 100 soldiers are killed per day in combat.
The U.S. and other Western nations have repeatedly condemned Putin's invasion, and responded by imposing significant economic sanctions against Russia, whilst sending billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine.
