- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said if world leaders "punished" Russia for annexing Crimea then Russia's war could have been avoided.
- "If the world had punished Russia for what it did in 2014, there would be none of the horrors of this invasion of Ukraine in 2022," Zelenskyy said.
- The 2014 annexation led to international condemnation and economic sanctions against Russia by the West.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that the "horrors" of Russia's current invasion of Ukraine could have been prevented had the rest of the world "punished" Russia for its seizure of Crimea from Ukraine eight years ago.
"It is often said that unpunished evil returns," Zelenskyy said in a virtual address to Australia's parliament. "I would add — unpunished evil returns winged, with a sense of omnipotence."
"If the world had punished Russia for what it did in 2014, there would be none of the horrors of this invasion of Ukraine in 2022," Zelenskyy added. "We need to fix these terrible mistakes now."
Russian President Vladimir Putin officially invaded and annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 with the help of Moscow-backed separatists.
That annexation led to international condemnation and economic sanctions against Russia by the West.
It also triggered Russia's expulsion from the G8 group of world leaders, making it the G7.
After Putin launched Russia's war against Ukraine late last month, the US, UK, European Union, Canada, and Switzerland swiftly moved to impose harsh sanctions on Russia, including on a number of individual oligarchs, as well as Putin himself.
"After 36 days of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, it is safe to say that there is no other way in the world to guarantee global security than to force Russia into silence, into peace," Zelenskyy said in his address to the Australian parliament on Thursday.
Zelenskyy continued, "The worst thing is that if Russia is not stopped now, if Russia is not brought to justice, some other countries in the world that dream of a similar war against their neighbors will decide that this is possible for them as well."