“There can be no fair peace without Ukraine”: Zelensky gives another tough speech at the UN and asks what interests are behind supporting Russia
Zelensky says that Russian leader Vladimir Putin is looking for ways to “break the Ukrainian spirit”, namely through attacks on energy infrastructure, which could make winter a time of “torment” for “millions of normal families”.
In a speech at the 79th UN General Assembly, this Wednesday, the Ukrainian President once again delivered a tough speech towards the invader and nations that support (or at least tolerate) Russian expansionist ambitions.
“Russia destroyed all of our thermal power plants and a large part of our hydroelectric capacity. This is how Putin prepares for winter, hoping to torment millions of Ukrainians. Putin wants to leave them in the dark and force Ukraine to suffer and surrender”, said the Ukrainian President, at the beginning of his speech.
In his speech before the Security Council, Zelensky had already said he had evidence that Putin was planning to target three nuclear power plants to make it difficult to heat Ukrainian homes during the winter.
The themes of protecting essential infrastructure and nuclear safety are safe bets for Zelensky in almost every speech because it is difficult to disagree with the urgency of either. Even nations that may not be completely aligned with the West when it comes to Ukraine have every interest in helping to protect the world from something that could be several times worse than Chernobyl.
After talking about emergencies – and the prospect of a winter in Ukraine without heating or with intermittent access to heating is indeed an emergency – the Ukrainian leader returned to the appeals he has made in almost all of his speeches. While he was speaking, the cameras broadcasting the event around the world were focused part of the time on the place where the Russian delegation was sitting. Two women, with serious faces, listened attentively.
“Unfortunately, at the UN, it is impossible to truly and definitively resolve issues of war and peace because many things depend on the Council and its veto power. When the aggressor exercises veto power, the UN is powerless to stop the war,” Zelensky said of Russia’s veto power. The solution? The “peace formula” that Zelensky designed more than two years ago, consisting of ten points, but which Russia says it cannot accept, as it would be a “capitulation”. “There is no veto power in the formula for peace and that is why it is the best opportunity for peace. Everyone is on an equal footing, it is effective and it is comprehensive”, he defended. When some alternatives proposed timid resolution plans, so-called sets of principles. It doesn’t just ignore the interests and suffering of Ukrainians who are most affected by the word.
