Russian tanks must be stopped or expelled from the territory of independent Ukraine so that they cannot come to Prague, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday, speaking by video link to the Czech Parliament.

"When Ukraine appeals to the countries of Europe for support, we proceed from that very principle, those very words that have become one of the fundamentals of your history: we are with you, be with us," he said.

"Russian tanks storming the cities of Ukrainian Donbass, trying to advance on Ukrainian Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, and Zaporizhia, must be stopped or expelled from the territory of independent Ukraine. So that they can never again come to Prague, Ostrava, Brno, Plzeň, Karlovy Vary or any other city on our continent. It is in Ukraine and now the battle for the future of Europe is taking place," the president said.

He expressed gratitude to the Czech Republic and the Czech people "for their generous help in this fight." "The Czech Republic has helped us both with weapons - very seriously and immediately when it became necessary; I thank the leadership of the state, and politically. You can be sure that with this you have also supported yourself - your own freedom, your own life. And the support must last as long as it takes to win. This is how this confrontation must end - in victory," said Zelensky.

He noted that "the Czech people know very well how compromises at someone else's expense end and what concessions to tyranny lead to, which offers to take away only allegedly part of the desired territory in order to pretend that aggression has ceased."

"He who wants to seize everything will never stop by taking only a portion. I urge you to continue with us, without stopping for a moment, to convince in this simple truth all those who have not yet decided to clearly choose a side in this confrontation, which lasts for the 112th day," Zelensky also said.