Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived at the UN General Assembly Tuesday morning sporting his favorite green shirt and cargo pants. His 15-minute speech drew a mixed response from delegates in attendance. While he received a welcoming applause as he took the podium, only half of the audience showed up to hear him speak.
Opting to deliver his speech in English, he began, “I welcome all who stand for common efforts and I promise being really united we can we can guarantee fair peace for all nations.”
“The 20th century taught the world to restrain from the use of the weapons of mass destruction, not to deploy, not to proliferate, not to strengthen with, and not to test, but to promote a complete nuclear disarmament.”
“Frankly, this is a good strategy but it should not be the only strategy to protect the world from the final war.”
“History shows it was Russia who dissolved nuclear disarmament the most back in 1990s and Russia deserves it now. Terrorists have no right to hold nuclear weapons.”
“Mass destruction is gaining momentum,” Zelensky said. “The aggressor is weaponizing many other things and those things are used not only against our country, but against all of yours as well, fellow leaders.”
With a more foreboding tone, he continued, “Evil cannot be trusted. Ask Prigozhin if one bets on Putin’s promise.”
He is referring to the former Wagner mercenary group leader who was killed when his plane was taken down in an apparent explosion. The exact cause still remains a mystery.
He then turned his focus to climate change, which has been a popular topic during the opening speeches at the Assembly, with Biden giving the first address.
Zelensky stated, “Thank God people have not yet learned to use climate change as a weapon. Even though humanity is failing on its climate policy objectives this means that extreme weather will still impact the normal global life and some evil state will also weaponize its outcomes.”
In an attempt to tie climate change back to the war with Russia, Zelensky continued “When islands and countries disappear underwater and when tornadoes and deserts are spreading into new territories… one unnatural disaster in Moscow decided to launch a big war and kill tens of thousands of people. We have to stop it.”
The Ukrainian president is due to appear at the White House Thursday to speak with Biden and members of Congress, although he will not be making a formal address as he did back in December 2022, the last time Zelensky made a trip to the US.
This visit comes as the Biden administration is reportedly deciding on sending Ukraine $24 billion in additional funding as well as long-range missiles.
Zelensky fired all 6 of his defense ministers last week, in an act that retired intelligence Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer said is the Ukrainian president’s attempt to “pin the blame on what we all now know to be a failure, the [counter]offensive,” to Jack Posobiec on his podcast Tuesday.
Speaking of Zelensky’s appearance in DC, Shaffer predicted that “Zelensky is considering another very heavy recruitment effort to bring in and replenish [the] lost members of the [Ukraine] military” and that “he's coming back for another turn at the well to try to ask for resources to continue what they're doing.”