Estimated read time: 9-10 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for continued support for Ukraine during a visit to Salt Lake City Friday, thanking Utahns for their solidarity and support of the Ukrainian people.
Hundreds of attendees at the National Governors Association summer meetings greeted the foreign leader with a standing ovation, some with tears in their eyes as he visited Utah for the first time as Ukraine continues an ongoing fight against Russia's incursion.
"Today I especially want to personally thank you for your support, the state of Utah ... all of those who do not want and will not allow evil to prevail," Zelenskyy said, addressing the crowd in his signature olive green T-shirt.
He blamed "criminal actions" by Russia for the deadly conflict in Ukraine and said the fight against aggression is a fight to "save our freedom, and thus, the common human understanding that evil must always, always lose."
"We do not ask for your boots on the ground. The only thing we ask for is sufficient support," he said.
The president was introduced by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, whose voice broke as he spoke of Ukraine's fight for freedom.
"There is a lot of nuance in the world. ... Sometimes it's hard to tell who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. This is not one of those times," Cox said. "There is evil in this world and there is good in this world, and we have to be on the side of good or we stand for nothing."
Zelenskyy's visit comes after he has spent the week meeting with NATO leaders in Washington as he urges continued support from the West in Ukraine's fight against Russia's incursion. Though Ukraine is not a NATO ally, the nation has relied on aid from the U.S. and European nations to provide weapons, along with humanitarian and economic aid.
The president was accompanied by first lady Olena Zelenska, Head of the Office to the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak, Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov, Minister for Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshyn and Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova.
"It was a privilege to hear from President Zelenskyy in Utah," said Svitlana Miller, founder of the nonprofit organization To Ukraine with Love. "My favorite part of his speech today was when he recounted how much destruction Russia has caused in Ukraine and then asked, 'Who do they think they are?' That's the question that comes to mind every time I hear of another hospital, school, neighborhood that gets destroyed. Every time I get the news of a close friend in Ukraine getting drafted to fight or hear the news of a family member being killed in the front lines, I think, 'Who do they think they are?'"
Miller said it was "comforting to see the support of the people in Utah and governors from across the country supporting Ukraine and our president today."
Utah state Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan, who has worked in Ukraine and married a Ukrainian, said the president's "powerful words resonate deeply with us here in Utah."
"His assertion that 'evil must always lose' captures the essence of our shared commitment to stand against tyranny and support Ukraine in its fight for freedom," Teuscher said. "Utah remains steadfast in its support for Ukraine, and we are inspired by President Zelenskyy's and the Ukrainian people's courage and resolve."
Actor Matthew McConaughey was also in attendance, and spoke with Cox and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis about culture and polarization. Cox, who has served as chairman of the National Governors Association, led the meetings in his last day at the helm, before passing the reins of the bipartisan organization over to Polis.
While in Salt Lake City, Zelenskyy also met with top leaders from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a church spokeswoman said.
"During a private meeting, the Ukrainian president spoke with a church delegation led by Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles," Irene Caso said. "They discussed the church's presence in Ukraine and humanitarian assistance throughout the region."
With the foreign leader in town, security at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City was tight, with dump trucks lining the blocks around the hotel and Secret Service agents securing the convention floor. Attendees were required to pass through metal detectors and have their bags searched to enter.
Cox announced he will sign a memorandum of understanding between Utah and Kyiv Oblast, the Ukrainian province surrounding the nation's capital, Friday afternoon. During a morning press conference, he told the dozens of reporters from local and national news outlets that the memorandum signifies a "kind of sister-state relationship" to promote trade with the region.
"(Zelenskyy) has been to California, New York and Washington, but this is his first trip to the heartland of the country," Cox said. "My message is the message that I've always given, and that is that we care deeply about freedom, not just at home, but abroad as well."
While speaking to the gathering, Zelenskyy addressed a recent missile strike on a children's hospital in Kyiv that killed at least 41. The strike caused children who are fighting "terrible, terrible diseases" to find "themselves on the street amidst ruins," the president said.
"Cancer does not wait for the Russians to stop bombing our cities," he said.
Zelenskyy closed his address appealing to the unity between Ukraine and the United States.
"Ukrainians and Americans, we will prevail," he said. "God bless America and Slava Ukraini."
GOP leaders on Ukraine aid
Following Zelenskyy's address, the president met with Cox and top legislative leaders, to sign a memorandum of understanding between the Kyiv Oblast region and Utah. The agreement is a show of support between the two regions, and exhibits their intention to collaborate on business and entrepreneurial interests.
While some Republicans have been critical of U.S. government's wartime aid to Ukraine, Cox distinguished between "support for Ukraine and support for the dollars that are going to Ukraine."
"I think it's really important that we make sure that everything we're sending to Ukraine is getting spent in the right ways," he told reporters. "It's certainly appropriate for people to ask questions and make sure that they get the right answers."
Utah Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, recounted a visit he took to besieged Ukraine in May 2023 — he saw trenches in the Ukrainian city of Bucha where bodies of women and children were dumped after being "killed in the streets."
"We believe in fiscal responsibility. I think everyone does," he said. "But we also believe in standing for good against evil. This is clearly a fight against good and evil, unprovoked."
Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, noted hosting Zelenskyy was to show support for Ukraine, not to promise financial support from Utah.
Former President Donald Trump, the GOP's presumptive presidential nominee, has been critical of the Biden administration's handling of the war in Ukraine, and many in his party have called for an end to Ukraine aid, including Utah Sen. Mike Lee.
Lee on Wednesday argued against allowing Ukraine to join the NATO treaty.
"NATO is supposed to protect its members and prevent war — not bring us closer to it," he said on X. "If Ukraine is in, America should be out."
Cox said the question of NATO membership for Ukraine is a "big one," but said he doesn't see a clear solution.
"But that will be part of peace discussions if and when (Russian President) Vladimir Putin decides that he's going to stop killing innocent Ukrainians," the governor said.
A spokesman for Lee did not respond to a request for comment about Zelenskyy's visit to Salt Lake City.
Cox said he thinks efforts to support Ukraine will not stop if Trump is reelected in November, saying "they'll continue just as they do now."
"We should support Ukraine, and so I'm hopeful that our party will continue to rally around it," Cox said. "Most of our party does support Ukraine, and I think when they hear what is really happening over there, they will as well."
Adams grew tearful in recounting his visit to Ukraine with reporters, and said Zelenskyy's trip to Utah was a full-circle moment after the Utah delegation's visit last spring.
"When we were there, no one knows the feeling they have when they're alone," he said. "I think they were very appreciative of somebody having the courage to go show up and be with them. I think they felt it. I think they feel what's going on in Utah because of that, and they wanted to come to Utah, I believe, to reciprocate that."
'Fear is easier to sell,' McConaughey says
Though McConaughey has flirted with politics in the past in his home state of Texas, the actor offered an outsiders view of the current political climate in the U.S., which has tended toward vitriol and calcification in recent years.
"We're not having real confrontation right now," McConaughey said.
He and Cox discussed the Utah governor's yearlong Disagree Better initiative, through which he has sought to promote more civility in politics. McConaughey said he believes both major parties are incentivized to invalidate the other side's arguments in part out of self-preservation.
"I want to hear more vision from our leaders, rather than just: 'I want to do the opposite of what they want,'" he said. "Fear is easier to sell than hope. It's more measurable."
"It seems like both parties have gotten out of the persuasion business," Cox replied.
While the conversation was focused on politics, it wasn't without moments of levity as several of the governors in attendance geeked out over sharing a room with the Academy Award winner. Each governor and dignitary in attendance at the two-day meeting at the Grand America Hotel received a cowboy hat to kick off the meeting Thursday, and Cox confessed to being a little starstruck seeing McConaughey don his.
"My chief of staff and I looked at each other and said, 'That's why he's a movie star,'" Cox said.
McConaughey even regaled the crowd with his signature line of, "Alright, alright, alright," from his film debut in 1993's "Dazed and Confused."
But the actor praised the governor's initiative toward civility, which he sees as a "real issue" facing the nation.
"Trust that what you're on to is good medicine," he concluded, adding that proponents of civility could use future disagreement and strife as a warning.
"So, scare some people. Scare us. Scare more Americans ... that if we don't do this, this could be the outcome," he said.
Contributing: Daniel Woodruff
