Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s speech at the 77th UN General Assembly received a standing ovation on Wednesday from dozens of international delegations who attended the speech, in yet another collective show of support for the country.
Although his speech was recorded and broadcast virtually at the General Assembly, most diplomatic missions, along with heads of government and state from around the world, were not indifferent to the Ukrainian leader’s words and applauded his words.
The one who did not stand up or applaud the Ukrainian president’s speech was, as expected, the Russian delegation, who watched the moment with a closed face.
In his speech, Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Russian decision to mobilize some 300,000 reservists shows that Moscow is far from thinking about negotiations to end the nearly seven-month war, but insisted that Ukraine will win the war.
“They [russos] they speak of negotiations, but announce a military mobilization. They talk about negotiations, but they announce pseudo-referendums in the occupied territories of Ukraine”, he said.
“Russia wants war. It is true. But Russia will not be able to stop the course of history,” Zelensky said, adding that “humanity and international law are stronger” than what he considered a “terrorist state.”
Russia has yet to speak at the UN General Assembly, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is scheduled to speak next Saturday.
Zelensky’s speech was remarkable not only for its content, but also for its context. It happened after the announcement of the mobilization announced by Putin.
On the other hand, it was the first time that the Ukrainian president, dressed in his usual green shirt, has addressed world leaders since the Russian invasion in February.
Zelensky argued that Moscow was preparing its troops for a new winter invasion and preparing fortifications while mobilizing more troops in Europe’s largest military conflict since World War II.
Laying down various “preconditions for peace” in Ukraine, sometimes amounting to broader prescriptions to improve the global order, the Ukrainian president called on world leaders to withdraw Russia’s vote in international institutions, as well as power veto in the UN Security Council, arguing that “aggressors must be punished and isolated”.
Although Zelensky did not personally attend this important UN event in New York, the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, attended the broadcast of the speech at the General Assembly, which she also received with applause.
Olena Zelenska, together with the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmygal, were received on Tuesday by the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, with whom they discussed the impact of the war on the humanitarian situation, human rights and nuclear security in the country.
The high-level week of the United Nations General Assembly began on Tuesday, at the UN headquarters in New York, and will continue until next Monday, with the presence of dozens of heads of state and government, including the Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa.
This is the first General Assembly since the start of the war in Ukraine and the first in person since the start of the pandemic.
The event is being held under the theme “A Watershed Moment: Transformative Solutions for Interconnected Challenges”, and will focus on the war in Ukraine and the global food, climate and energy crises.
Source: TSF
