Invited to speak at the UN on Tuesday, September 19, President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a resounding speech, launching a violent diatribe against Moscow, which he accuses of “genocide” in Ukraine. The Ukrainian head of state made a series of striking declarations and strong words, while his American counterpart Joe Biden called on all countries to “stand up against Russian aggression”.
Russia’s deportation of “tens of thousands” of Ukrainian children is “clearly a genocide”, he accused from the podium of the UN General Assembly in New York, also denouncing the fact that the Russia uses food and nuclear energy “as a weapon.”
“Terrorists have no right to hold nuclear weapons,” he said, while inviting world leaders opposed to Russian aggression to help him prepare “a peace summit.” . Volodymyr Zelensky was applauded at length upon his entry into the enclosure, under the eyes of the Russian deputy ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy, present at the Russian table.
In the morning, US President Joe Biden lambasted Russia for “believing the world will tire and let it brutalize Ukraine without consequence.” “If we let Ukraine be dismembered, is the independence of nations still guaranteed? The answer is no,” he insisted, to applause from the Ukrainian president and the audience.
A year ago, Volodymyr Zelensky was exceptionally authorized to speak via video message. This time, he is there in person, for this annual high mass where he spoke in the middle of the day on Tuesday, before participating in a special meeting of the Security Council on Wednesday and leaving for Washington where he will be received at the House White Thursday.
Since the Russian invasion, an overwhelming majority of countries have adopted several resolutions at the UN General Assembly supporting Ukraine and its territorial integrity or calling for Russian withdrawal. But after a year and a half of war with cascading impacts on the world, particularly on food security, certain countries of the South are pleading for a diplomatic solution.
“We will intensify our efforts to end the war through diplomacy and dialogue, on the basis of the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” launched Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stressing that “war will have no winners and peace will have no losers.”
In Ukraine, “no solution will be lasting if it is not based on dialogue,” insisted Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is due to meet Wednesday with Volodymyr Zelensky. “Much has been invested in weapons and very little in development,” he lamented.
Unlike several Western powers, Brazil has never imposed financial sanctions on Russia, nor agreed to supply arms to Kiev and the country is trying to position itself, like China, as a mediator.
“I am aware that for some leaders it is important to find a peaceful solution,” noted European Council President Charles Michel on Monday. But “for this peace to be lasting, it must respect the principles” of the UN, he said.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres painted a very dark picture of a “turned upside down world”, where geopolitical tensions “are worsening” and global warming “most directly compromises our future”. Symbol of this “compilation” of crises, the floods of Derna in Libya, “sad snapshot of the state of our world, swept away by the torrent of inequalities and injustices, and paralyzed in the face of the challenges to be met,” he said. he lamented.
The thousands of people who lost their lives “were victims of several scourges. Victims of years of conflict. Victims of climate chaos. Victims of leaders, who, there and elsewhere, have not been able to find the path to peace,” he further underlined.
As a prelude to the General Assembly on Monday, developing countries reminded the rest of the world of its promises to improve the lot of humanity by 2030, insisting in particular on a reform of the international financial architecture. A request made repeatedly by Antonio Guterres, who sees it as a reason for the fragmentation of the world.
Apart from the United States, no other permanent member of the Security Council (France, United Kingdom, China, Russia) is represented at the highest level. Absences that some diplomats see as a bad sign for the UN.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raïssi was still scheduled to address the General Assembly on Tuesday afternoon, while his country and the United States have just carried out a rare exchange of prisoners under an agreement including the transfer in Tehran of six billion dollars of frozen funds.
