UN Assembly: Zelensky accuses China and Brazil of imposing peace plans that “ignore the suffering of Ukrainians and reality”
Zelensky said 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.
Luís Montenengro upon arrival at the polling place for the PSD direct elections
ESTELA SILVA/Lusa
In his intervention before the Security Council, Zelensky had already said he has evidence that Putin is 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 closed faces, listened attentively.
CHARLY TRIBALLEAU
“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,” said Zelensky.
The solution? The “peace formula” that Zelensky designed more than two years agoconsisting of dez 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. The alternative plans to his formula, like the one that China and Brazil presented, “not only ignore the interests and suffering of the Ukrainians, who are the most affected, they ignore reality and give political space to Putin to continue the war and put more nations under their control.”
Perhaps, considered Zelensky, “someone wants a Nobel Prize instead of real peace”, but “Putin will only give them more suffering and disasters in return”.
The colonial past was left behind
At the end of the speech, which met the recommended 15-minute limit, Zelensky looked to the past, to criticize Putin’s neocolonialism and the fact that some nations that suffered the same yoke do not now stand alongside Ukraine. “We must remove the Russian occupiers from our territory, this is what will put an end to hostilities and we must hold the perpetrators of war crimes accountable. At the same time, it is necessary to prevent ecocide and stop the destruction of nature caused by war”, said Zelensky and then asked the question: “What part of this list might be considered unacceptable by those who defend the UN Charter?”
Donald Trump
Kevin Dietsch
In case the insinuation wasn’t clear, Zelensky explained: “If anyone in the world looks for alternatives to any of these points, or tries to ignore any of them, it probably means that they themselves want to be part of what Putin is doing. And when the Sino-Brazilian duo tries to become a chorus of voices, along with one country or another in Europe, another in Africa, who propose an alternative to a full and fair peace, the question that arises is: what are the your true interests?”asked Zelensky, in reference to the document signed by China and Brazil – and discredited by many of Ukraine’s allies.
“The world has already gone through colonial wars (…). And all countries, including China, Brazil, European nations, African nations and the Middle East, all understand why those days must remain in the past.” Ukrainians, moreover, “will never accept the reasons that could lead someone to accept that such a brutal colonial past could be imposed on Ukraine, instead of a peaceful life.”
