Lithuanian parliament awards Zelenskyy with Freedom Prize

This was announced by Ambassador of Ukraine to Lithuania Petro Beshta, who accepted the award on behalf of Zelenskyy. 

On Freedom Defenders Day, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy remotely addressed the parliamentarians.

After his speech, the Lithuanian parliament awarded the president the Freedom Prize on Freedom Defenders Day. Ambassador of Ukraine to Lithuania Petro Beshta accepted the award on his behalf.

During the awarding ceremony, President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda said that Zelenskyy's leadership had inspired both Ukrainians and Western leaders to do more to speed up the end of the war. 

"This man has already become a kind of symbol. It is obvious that the man was created for this position at that time. His leadership, his willpower inspired everyone - both those who directly participated in the war and those who stood nearby - to do a little more to make this terrible war end sooner and to make Russia learn a lesson for a long time. That evil, dirt, coercion, force will not help the Russian Federation to realize its goals, that the desire for freedom is stronger, and freedom will always defeat the darkness," Nausėda said.

The Freedom Prize was established as an award for the contribution to the free self-determination and sovereignty of the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe. It is awarded annually at a solemn session of the Seimas on January 13 - on Freedom Defenders’ Day.