In his first in-person appearance at the annual General Assembly meetings since Russia invaded his country in 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that Russia is “using everything” from food and energy to kidnapped children in its war against Ukraine.
World leaders warned that the same could happen to them. According to the Associated Press, Zelensky said at the annual high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly: “When hatred is used as a weapon against one country, it never stops there.” The goal of the current war against Ukraine is to turn our land, our people, our lives, and our resources into weapons against you, against the rules-based international order.”
He pointed to the impact of the war on fuel and food supplies. He highlighted what Ukraine says are at least tens of thousands of children taken from their families after the invasion of Moscow.
“These children in Russia learned to hate Ukraine, and all ties with their families were cut off,” Zelensky said. “This is clearly genocide.”
Zelensky accused Russia of committing “genocide” against the backdrop of forcibly deporting Ukrainian children to areas under its control, according to what was reported by Agence France-Presse.
Global peace summit
Wearing his military uniform, the Ukrainian president announced before the United Nations General Assembly that his country is preparing for a “global peace summit” to which he intends to invite all world leaders who oppose Russian “aggression” against Ukraine.
In his speech from the United Nations podium, he stressed that “important discussions took place in Hiroshima, Copenhagen, and Jeddah regarding putting a peace plan into effect. We hope to organize a global peace summit. I call on all of you, everyone who does not tolerate any aggression, to jointly prepare for the summit.”
Zelensky added that Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, cannot be trusted with nuclear weapons. He stressed that “terrorists do not have the right to possess a nuclear weapon.”
According to Reuters news agency, Zelensky said that Russia is trying to maneuver the issue of global food shortages to gain international recognition for the land it seized from Kiev.
Zelensky criticized Moscow for what he said was “an attempt to use the food shortage on the global market as a weapon in exchange for recognition of some, if not all, of the territories seized by (Russia in Ukraine).”
Zelensky said: “Ukraine is doing everything in its power to ensure that after the Russian aggression, no one in the world will dare to attack any country… The occupier must return to his land.”
In March, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and another official, accusing them of kidnapping children from Ukraine. Russian officials have denied any forced transfers of children, saying some Ukrainian children are in foster care.
Russia will have the opportunity to address the General Assembly on Saturday, when Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to take the podium. Russia’s representative to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyansky, sat in Russia’s seat during Zelensky’s speech, according to the Associated Press.
Zelensky ascended to the global platform at a sensitive stage in his country’s campaign to maintain international support for its fight. Nearly 19 months after Moscow launched a large-scale invasion, Ukrainian forces launched a counterattack three months ago that did not go as quickly, or as initially hoped.
Ukraine and its allies present the country’s case as a battle for the rule of international law, for the sovereignty of every country with a powerful and perhaps expansionist neighbor, and for the stability of global supplies that have been rocked by war. Commodity disruptions have led to inflation and caused serious hardship for poor countries, according to the Associated Press.
After arriving in New York on Monday, Zelensky called on the United Nations to respond to allowing his country’s invaders a permanent seat in the Security Council.
Zelensky has attended the UN General Assembly before (last year he did not attend in person). In 2021, he lamented in the General Assembly that the United Nations was “a retired superhero who has long forgotten how great it once was.”
