
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the graduating class of Johns Hopkins College by way of livestream from Ukraine on Thursday in Baltimore.
Will Kirk/Johns Hopkins College by way of AP
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Will Kirk/Johns Hopkins College by way of AP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the graduating class of Johns Hopkins College by way of livestream from Ukraine on Thursday in Baltimore.
Will Kirk/Johns Hopkins College by way of AP
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a visitor look at Johns Hopkins College as he delivered a shock tackle to the category of 2023 at their graduation ceremony Thursday morning.
Zelenskyy spoke in a live video stream from Ukraine that was proven at Homewood Area on the college’s Baltimore campus, the place he was additionally offered with an honorary Physician of Humane Letters diploma by Johns Hopkins College President Ron Daniels.
In his 10-minute speech, Zelenskyy centered his remarks on the significance of time, along with indispensable beliefs of freedom, self-determination and democracy.
Zelenskyy’s look on the graduation ceremony was a shock for these in attendance, the college stated in a news release.
“One of the vital frequent truisms on Earth is the recommendation to worth or a minimum of not waste time,” Zelensky stated in his speech. “Each individual finally realizes that point is probably the most priceless useful resource on the planet — not oil or uranium, not lithium or the rest, however time.”
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The Ukrainian president thanked america and the Biden administration for his or her unconditional help of his nation within the struggle towards Russia.
“I am proud that Ukraine just isn’t dropping a single day in its protection towards Russian terror. On daily basis we do every part, every part to change into stronger, to present extra safety to individuals, to save lots of extra lives,” Zelenskyy stated. “The USA has additionally not misplaced a single day in serving to Ukraine repel the Russian aggression.”
Zelenskyy in contrast the graduates to these combating on the entrance strains within the struggle — as many are comparable in age and have additionally accomplished or have plans to finish their training.
“They and you’ve got comparable hopes for all times, comparable expectations from life,” he stated. “However there may be [a] elementary distinction that comes right down to the query of time.”
The college stated that Zelenskyy accepted the invitation to talk at this 12 months’s graduation on behalf of Ukraine and “in protection of democratic values that enable peace, alternative and freedom to flourish across the globe.”
Zelenskyy’s graduation tackle at Johns Hopkins marks his first speech at a U.S. faculty campus since Might 2022, roughly three months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In a May 2022 address to Stanford College college students, Zelenskyy reminded the viewers to pursue their passions post-graduation, one thing that those that had been drafted into the struggle wouldn’t have the possibility to do.
“I want to want to all the scholars, I want to want you an extended and attention-grabbing life in what you are doing – in science, in journalism, in artwork, in no matter [you do],” he said in that speech. “I might sincerely wish to want you peace.”
Zelenskyy bought his begin as an actor and comic who performed a fictional president on the Ukrainian TV sequence Servant of the Individuals. Shortly after the sequence resulted in 2019, he was elected Ukraine’s sixth president.