President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the Spanish state and society for their principled position on sanctions and called on Spanish businesses to completely stop working in Russia.

"We need really strong sanctions. How can Russian banks be allowed to generate revenue while the Russian military is torturing ordinary civilians to death in Ukrainian cities? How can European companies trade with a state that deliberately destroys an entire people? I know that many of your companies have already stopped financing the Russian war machine with their taxes. Grateful to them. I am also grateful to your state and society for their principled position on sanctions. But at the same time, I am asking companies like Maxam, Porcelanosa, Sercobe and others to stop doing business with Russia," he said on Tuesday, speaking via video link to the Spanish Parliament.

"What our city of Bucha, our Borodianka, our other cities experienced, these are war crimes. These are crimes against humanity. No statute of limitations. This is an absolutely clear basis for the Russian military and commanders to be convicted by an international court," Zelensky also said.

"Under these conditions, how can the countries of the world freely buy Russian oil and allow Russian ships into their ports?" he said.

Speaking about Mariupol, which was practically destroyed by bombing, Zelensky recalled the tragedy of Guernica, a Spanish city destroyed by bombing during the civil war. "Imagine that people now, in Europe, live for weeks in basements to save lives. From shelling, from air bombs. April 2022, but the reality in Ukraine is like in April 1937. When the whole world learned the name of one of your cities, Guernica," he said.

Zelensky said, addressing the parliamentarians, that "fear is not about you. But I ask you to do everything so that other European countries do not have fear."

"You can help us. Help the world. Give us the weapons we need. And we appreciate the one you've already provided. You can support further sanctions as needed. And also to destroy the fear of Russia everywhere you can see," he said. "Since democracy should not be afraid. Freedom must be protected," the president said.