Around 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, the crowd of about 200 inside the Rotunda of the National Archives was getting restless.

Made up of leaders of the local Washington and national Ukrainian communities, at least one Cabinet member in Attorney General Merrick Garland, and a slew of members of Congress, they had arrived to hear Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak. Some had been waiting for hours for the scheduled 5:30 p.m. speech.

But when Zelenskyy and his wife, Olena Zelenska, walked out to the podium 10 minutes later, the mood switched instantly as the crowd gave them a long, raucous standing ovation.

Zelenskyys remarks, made in front of the vault that holds the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, included some inspirational talk, but mainly centered on gratitude for what the United States government and its people had done already.