President Zelensky honoured in the Netherlands for Ukraine’s fight for freedom
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(From left) Middelburg mayor Yvonne van Mastrigt, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and chairman of the Board of the Roosevelt Foundation H.M. de Jonge at the Four Freedoms Awards ceremony in Middelburg, Netherlands, on April 16.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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MIDDELBURG, The Netherlands – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a moment of silence on April 16 for victims of extensive overnight Russian air attacks as he accepted the International Four Freedoms Award on behalf of the Ukrainian people for their courage during years of war.
The award, presented in the Netherlands, was inspired by former US president Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1941 speech outlining four fundamental human rights: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
In awarding the prize in January, the Roosevelt Foundation said it had granted the award to Mr Zelensky and the Ukrainian people in “recognition for their courageous struggle for our freedom and democracy under exceptionally difficult circumstances”.
Citing the hardships endured by his people, Mr Zelensky said that the freedom to live without fear must not be taken for granted.
“This fundamental freedom we still lack. Freedom from ruins, freedom from those who bring ruins, freedom from those who seek to destroy everything that matters to normal people,” he said.
Calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a global threat, he appealed to the international community to maintain its military, political and legal support for Ukraine.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions, and devastated Ukrainian cities since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022.
A ceremony in the historic southern town of Middelburg was to be attended by Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Prime Minister Rob Jetten.
Other 2026 laureates included the Committee to Protect Journalists, for Freedom of Speech, and activist Gisele Pelicot, the French woman whose husband was convicted of inviting dozens of men to rape her unconscious body, for Freedom from Fear.
The organisation said the recipient of the Freedom of Worship award could not be named due to security concerns, while Chilean activist Isidora Uribe Silva won the award for Freedom from Want.
Past recipients of the awards include former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, former German chancellor Angela Merkel, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and late South African president Nelson Mandela. REUTERS
