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ISLAMABAD: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized international institutions and emphasized the decisive role of weapons in national survival during his address at the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.&nbsp;President Zelensky is attending the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, held between September 23 and 29.&nbsp;In his speech, he strongly criticized global institutions and international systems for their ineffectiveness in resolving conflicts, pointing to ongoing crises in Sudan, Somalia, Palestine, and Gaza, all trapped in prolonged violence despite repeated statements from international bodies.&nbsp;Zelensky declared that it is not international law or cooperation, but weapons that determine who survives, stressing that international law is meaningless without powerful allies and military strength.&nbsp;Criticism of RussiaTurning his focus to Russia, Zelensky condemned Moscow&rsquo;s actions, accusing it of abducting &ldquo;thousands of Ukrainian children.&rdquo; He also warned of the ongoing threat posed by Russia&rsquo;s occupation of Ukraine&#39;s nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe.&nbsp;&ldquo;Last year, I warned the world about the risk of radiation disasters due to Russia&rsquo;s occupation,&rdquo; he said, expressing frustration that &ldquo;nothing&rsquo;s changed,&rdquo; even after the plant recently experienced a blackout.&nbsp;The Ukrainian leader called for immediate and unified action to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin, warning that inaction risks a broader and more dangerous conflict.&nbsp;As international institutions remain &ldquo;too weak,&rdquo; Zelensky said, &ldquo;this madness continues.&rdquo;&nbsp;He added that it is now less costly to stop Putin than to protect every port and every ship from Russian attacks.&nbsp;Zelensky argued that the war must be stopped, even &ldquo;if it takes weapons to do [so],&rdquo; warning that otherwise Russia will continue to push &ldquo;the war forward [and] deeper.&rdquo;&nbsp;&lsquo;Failure of UN, international law&rsquo;Zelensky also addressed what he described as the broader collapse of international law, citing the Taliban&rsquo;s takeover of Afghanistan and the growing power of criminal cartels in Latin America as examples of weakened global governance.&nbsp;&ldquo;You know perfectly well international law doesn&rsquo;t work fully unless you have powerful friends who are truly willing to stand up for it, and even that doesn&#39;t work without weapons,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;Criticizing the UN&rsquo;s role in Sudan, Somalia, and Palestine, Zelensky said that apart from issuing statements, &ldquo;everything happening in Gaza remains without a way out even now.&rdquo;&nbsp;He concluded that in a world where institutions are failing, it is the rise of weapons, not dialogue, that determines who survives.&nbsp;Drone allegationsZelensky also raised concerns over Russia&rsquo;s growing use of drone technology, noting recent airspace violations in Poland and Estonia, and warning of the emerging threat from autonomous drones powered by artificial intelligence.&nbsp;&ldquo;Just recently, 19 simple Russian drones violated Polish airspace, and only four were shut down,&rdquo; he stated.&nbsp;Discussing the accessibility of drones, Zelensky remarked that while drones were once exclusive to &ldquo;the strongest countries&rdquo; due to high costs, even basic drones can now fly thousands of kilometers.&nbsp;He highlighted how Ukrainian farmers are adapting to these evolving threats, learning to shield their equipment from Russian drone attacks, a challenge he said is becoming as serious as climate change.

Europe

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking at UNGA 80, criticized global institutions as too weak to stop wars, stressing that military power, not international law, is what ultimately determines survival in today’s world.

Zelensky at UNGA: International institutions ‘too weak’ to stop wars

UNITED NATIONS: President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he believed Ukraine could win back all territory lost to Russia, a dramatic shift from the US leader&rsquo;s repeated calls for Kyiv to make concessions to end the war.&nbsp;Trump posted on social media soon after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly gathering of world leaders.&nbsp;&ldquo;I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form,&quot; Trump wrote. &quot;With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option.&rdquo;&nbsp;The strengthened support from Trump, if it sticks, is a huge win for Zelenskyy, who has urged the American president to keep up the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his war. It was a departure from Trump&#39;s previous suggestions that Ukraine would never be able to reclaim all the territory that Russia has occupied since seizing the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.&nbsp;That had disheartened Zelenskyy, Europeans and Ukrainians and called into question the US commitment to UN principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity. But now, Trump&rsquo;s view of the battlefield coincides more with Ukraine&rsquo;s, Zelenskyy said.&nbsp;&ldquo;Trump is a game changer by himself,&rdquo; Zelenskyy told reporters after their meeting.&nbsp;Trump needles Russia about war in UkraineTrump, going back to his 2024 campaign, insisted he would quickly end the war, but his peace efforts appear to have stalled following a diplomatic blitz last month, when he held a summit with Putin and a White House meeting with Zelenskyy and European allies.&nbsp;Trump has acknowledged, including in his UN speech to world leaders, that he thought a resolution to this conflict would be &ldquo;the easiest&rdquo; because he has had a good relationship with Putin. Trump said he is open to imposing more sanctions on Russia and urged Europe to join in.&nbsp;&ldquo;Russia has been fighting aimlessly for three and a half years, a War that should have taken a Real Military Power less than a week to win,&rdquo; Trump wrote on social media. &ldquo;This is not distinguishing Russia. In fact, it is very much making them look like &lsquo;a paper tiger.&rsquo;&rdquo;&nbsp;In his speech to the General Assembly, Trump said the war in Ukraine was making Russia &ldquo;look bad&rdquo; because it was &ldquo;supposed to be a quick little skirmish.&rdquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;It shows you what leadership is, what bad leadership can do to a country,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The only question now is how many lives will be needlessly lost on both sides.&rdquo;&nbsp;Before meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump said the &ldquo;biggest progress&rdquo; toward ending the conflict &ldquo;is that the Russian economy is terrible right now.&rdquo; Zelenskyy said he agreed with Trump&rsquo;s call for European nations to further halt imports of Russian oil and natural gas.&nbsp;&ldquo;We have great respect for the fight that Ukraine is putting up,&rdquo; Trump told Zelenskyy, who replied that he had &ldquo;good news&rdquo; from the battlefield.&nbsp;How Trump&#39;s stance has shifted on UkraineBefore his Alaska summit with Putin last month, Trump repeated that any resolution to the war would require &ldquo;some land swapping.&quot;&nbsp;In talks with Zelenskyy and Europeans just afterward, Trump said Putin reiterated that he wants the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that make up the Donbas, according to European officials. Days later, Zelensky and prominent European leaders came to the White House.&nbsp;Following those meetings, Trump announced he was arranging for direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy. But Putin hasn&rsquo;t shown any interest in meeting with Zelenskyy and Moscow has only intensified its bombardment of Ukraine.&nbsp;European leaders, as well as American lawmakers, including some Republican allies of Trump, have urged the president to dial up stronger sanctions on Russia.&nbsp;&ldquo;In the event that Russia is not ready to make a deal to end the war, then the United States is fully prepared to impose a very strong round of powerful tariffs, which would stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly,&rdquo; Trump told the General Assembly.&nbsp;However, he repeated his calls for Europe to &ldquo;step it up&rdquo; and stop buying Russian oil, the engine feeding Putin&rsquo;s war machine.&nbsp;Push for sanctions and cutting off Russian oilEuropean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said before meeting with Trump that Europe would be imposing more sanctions and tariffs on Russia and that the bloc would be further reducing its imports of Russian energy.&nbsp;Zelenskyy, speaking at a special UN Security Council session on Ukraine, also appealed for stronger US pressure on Russia.&nbsp;&ldquo;Moscow fears America and always pays attention to it,&rdquo; said Zelenskyy, who has had strained ties with Trump in previous sitdowns and has previously faced White House accusations that he was partly to blame for Russia&rsquo;s invasion in 2022.&nbsp;Russia denigrated the Security Council meeting as just the New York stop in the world tour of a &ldquo;former actor,&rdquo; a reference to Zelenskyy.&nbsp;&ldquo;There is no added value for the establishment of peace in Ukraine generated from today&rsquo;s meeting,&rdquo; said Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia&rsquo;s deputy ambassador to the UN. &quot;This will merely become yet another shameful episode in the market of hypocrisy.&rdquo;&nbsp;European leaders have supported Zelenskyy&rsquo;s diplomatic efforts, with some alarmed by the possibility that the war could spread beyond Ukraine as they are facing what they have called Russian provocations.&nbsp;&ldquo;I welcome the fact that the president of the United States believes in Ukraine&rsquo;s ability not only to hold the course&rdquo; but to prevail, French President Emmanuel Macron said.&nbsp;NATO allies will hold formal consultations at Estonia&rsquo;s request on Tuesday, after the Baltic country said three Russian fighter jets entered its airspace last week without authorization.&nbsp;Trump said he would back NATO countries that choose to shoot down intruding Russian planes but said direct US involvement would depend on the circumstances.&nbsp;New strikes in Ukraine as toll of war growsThe full-scale war, which began on Feb. 24, 2022, is taking a heavy toll on Ukrainian civilians. Russia said it shot down three dozen Ukrainian drones heading toward Moscow, while Ukraine said Russian missiles, drones and bombs killed at least two civilians.&nbsp;The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights also said this month that Ukrainian civilian casualties increased by 40% in the first eight months of this year compared with 2024, as Russia escalated its long-range missile and localized drone strikes.&nbsp;A UN Human Rights Office report released Tuesday described the dire situation of thousands of civilians detained by Russia in areas of Ukraine it has captured.&nbsp;&ldquo;Russian authorities have subjected Ukrainian civilian detainees in occupied territory to torture and ill-treatment, including sexual violence, in a widespread and systematic manner,&rdquo; the report said.

President Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, UNGA 80

Americas

He posts on social media after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly gathering of world leaders.

Articles tagged with "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy"

Zelensky at UNGA: International institutions ‘too weak’ to stop wars

Trump says Ukraine can win back all territory with NATO's help