The entire world has a vested interest in helping defeat the Russian invasion of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine told the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, casting his appeal for more allies and aid as a matter of security — even survival — for many other nations.
Delivering one of the most anticipated speeches of the annual gathering of world leaders, Zelensky painted Russia as a habitual aggressor, citing Moscow’s military interventions in Moldova, Georgia and Syria, its increased control over Belarus and its threats against the Baltic States.
“The goal of the present war against Ukraine is to turn our land, our people, our lives, our resources, into a weapon against you, against the international rules-based order,” he said.
Almost 19 months into a war with no end in sight, UN leaders had signalled that they wanted this year’s General Assembly, which began Tuesday, to centre on global warming and the sustainable development of poorer countries. They were hoping for less of a focus on Ukraine than last year when Zelensky addressed the gathering by video.
But this time, Zelensky travelled to New York to speak in person, with the aim of preventing the world from losing interest in — or patience with — the largest conflict in Europe since World War II. He wants to shore up support among the US and its allies while winning over the many other countries that have carefully avoided taking sides. The Ukrainian leader is to continue on to Washington later in the week.
Zelensky’s message that Ukraine’s cause is a global one paralleled the remarks hours earlier of President Joe Biden, who told the gathering: “If we allow Ukraine to be carved up, is the independence of any nation secure? I respectfully suggest the answer is no.”
Zelensky said that while the world has long focused on nuclear war between major powers as the ultimate threat — the Kremlin has hinted at the use of nuclear weapons repeatedly during the current hostilities — it has lost sight of the importance of dangers that can seem less threatening. He pointed to efforts by Russia to choke off Ukrainian food exports, contributing to shortages in Africa and elsewhere; to its manipulation of oil and gas to pressure other countries; and to its systematic bombardment of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Zelensky objected bitterly to the Russian practice of taking children from occupied portions of Ukraine and placing them with faraway Russian families.
New York Times News Service
