Zelensky began his much-anticipated video address to the UN General Assembly hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization of reserves to advance his war against Ukraine. While Zelensky had yet to address the development, he said “a crime has been committed against Ukraine and we demand fair punishment,” laying out five non-negotiable conditions for peace between the two countries. These, he said, should include banning Russia from voting in international bodies and exercising its veto in the Security Council. “Since the aggressor is a party to decision-making in international organizations, he must be isolated from them,” Zelensky said. Delegates to the United Nations General Assembly stand in for a standing ovation after Zelensky’s speech on Wednesday. (Jason DeCrow/The Associated Press) Among the other conditions he set were the restoration of Ukraine’s security and guarantees of territorial integrity and security. His speech drew applause that lasted almost a minute in the General Assembly hall.
War dominates the UN meeting
Russia has not yet had its turn to speak at the rally. Putin said he sent his armed forces to Ukraine because of threats to his country’s security from a hostile government in Kyiv. to free Russians living in Ukraine – especially its eastern Donbas region – from what it sees as oppression by the Ukrainian government. and to restore what it considers to be Russia’s historic territorial claims to the country. The war has dominated the global gathering, which comes nearly seven months after Russia launched Europe’s biggest military conflict since World War Two. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appears on a video screen as he delivers a recorded speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday. He set five conditions for peace with Russia, including the removal of Russia’s veto in the UN Security Council. (Mike Segar/Reuters) Given the circumstances, Zelensky was not on the podium in August where other presidents, prime ministers and monarchs speak at the most important annual meeting of international diplomacy. Instead, he had an exemption to speak via video. As a permanent member of its most powerful body, the Security Council, Russia was able to veto a request to stop its attack on Ukraine just days after it began. However, the move struck a chord with many other countries and led to action this spring in the broader General Assembly, where resolutions are non-binding but do not have vetoes. The assembly voted overwhelmingly in March to condemn Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, called for an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of all Russian forces and called for the protection of millions of civilians. The following month, the members, a smaller but still commanding number of members, voted to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council.
Putin is mobilizing reserves
Putin’s order Wednesday on the partial mobilization was sparse on details. Officials said as many as 300,000 reservists could be enrolled. It is an apparent attempt to build on momentum after a Ukrainian counteroffensive this month retook swaths of Russian-held territory. But the first such call in Russia since World War II also brings the battle home in a new way for Russians and risks reigniting domestic anxiety and antipathy to the war. Shortly after Putin’s announcement, flights out of the country quickly filled up as people scrambled to book one-way tickets and prices soared. Hundreds of people were arrested in anti-war protests across the country. A day earlier, Russian-controlled regions of eastern and southern Ukraine announced plans to hold referendums on becoming parts of Russia. Ukrainian leaders and their Western allies consider the vote illegitimate. Zelensky’s speech was one of the most anticipated at a rally this year about the war in his country. But it was not the first time that the first president was at the center of the UN. Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska, surrounded by the Ukrainian delegation, listens to her husband speak at the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday. (Julia Nikhinson/The Associated Press) At last year’s General Assembly meeting, Zelensky famously compared the UN to “a retired superhero who has long forgotten how great they once were,” as he repeated calls for action to confront Russia over its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula and its support for the separatists.
