Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the UN General Assembly on Wednesday he dismissed China's peace proposals as insincere and even treacherous, insisting his own was the only one that could end Russian President Vladimir Putin's brutal aggression and bring a “true and just peace” to his people.
Zelensky It has begun In his address to the General Assembly, Secretary-General Guterres recalled receiving “horrifying reports” that one month after the start of the invasion, Russian tanks had shelled a nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, Ukraine, the largest nuclear plant in Europe, he reminded his audience.
“The Russians attacked this facility as brutally as any other during this war, but they did not consider the potentially catastrophic consequences,” he said.
“This was one of the most terrifying moments of the war. Nobody knew how an attack on Russian nuclear facilities would end, and everyone in Ukraine remembered what 'Chernobyl' meant,” he continued, referring to the infamous The 1986 nuclear disasterIt occurred on the territory of Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union.
President Zelenskyy reiterated his warning that Russia's occupation of Zaporizhia is “a major source of radiological danger in Europe and indeed the world” and demanded that the facility be returned to Ukrainian control.
He extended the warning, saying “smoke from fires in war-torn cities can reach other countries,” and accused Putin of committing “ecocide” by recklessly causing massive environmental destruction during his invasion of Ukraine.
“If Russia were to cause a nuclear disaster at one of our nuclear power plants, radiation would ignore borders,” he said.
Zelensky said Putin's nefarious strategy was to destroy Ukraine's energy infrastructure and cause immense suffering to civilians, which may eventually lead to Kiev's surrender.
“As of today, Russia has destroyed all our thermal power plants and most of our hydroelectric capacity. This is how Putin is preparing for winter and inflicting suffering on millions of Ukrainians, ordinary families, women and children, ordinary towns and villages. Putin wants to leave them in the darkness and cold this winter and force Ukraine to suffer and submit,” he said.
Zelensky named North Korea and Iran and accused other countries of backing Russia in what he called “cherry-picking” efforts. He accused Russia's allies of providing satellite data that helps Russia target Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
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Gov. Josh Shapiro (via Storyful)
Zelensky also strongly criticized Russia's ally China, rejecting a “set of principles” initiated by China and Brazil. push They argue that this month's “half-baked reconciliation plan” is meaningless, or worse, because it ignores “the interests and suffering of the Ukrainian people.”
Zelensky went further, suggesting the alternative peace plans were a cynical ploy to “give President Putin the political space to continue the war.”
“When two people, a Chinese and a Brazilian, along with someone from Europe and someone from Africa, try to grow into a chorus calling for something other than a full and just peace, the question arises as to what the real interests are,” he mused darkly.
“One might hope for a Nobel Prize for a political biography about a frozen truce instead of real peace, but the only prize Putin will give for it is more suffering and disaster,” he warned.
Zelenskiy said his goals continued to include “punishing those responsible for war crimes” and rescuing all prisoners held by Russia, including Ukrainian civilians kidnapped by the invaders.
The Ukrainian president said swift action was needed to prevent “a second and third phase of Russian aggression.”
“I want peace for my people. A real and just peace,” he concluded.
