Sept. 25 (UPI) — Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky urged all nations to support Kyiv’s plan for a real and just peace in an address before the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.
“We must withdraw Russian occupiers, which will bring an end to the hostilities in Ukraine. And we must hold those responsible for war crimes accountable,” Zelensky told the meeting of world leaders in New York City.
Zelensky said any “parallel or alternative attempts” to seek peace are actually efforts to achieve a lull, rather than an end to the war.
“Ukraine wants to end this war more than anyone in the world,” Zelensky said. “Peace is needed and it must be a real, just peace.”
“It’s our heroic soldiers who are giving their lives to defend our country from invaders trying to steal our land,” Zelensky told the U.N. delegates.”That’s why we say, rightfully so, there can be no just peace without Ukraine.”
Zelensky began by saying he would speak about “a day that has happened and a day that must never happen.”
On March 4, 2022 he said he received a “terrifying” report of Russian tanks firing directly at buildings of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. It is Europe’s largest with six nuclear reactors.
“This was one of the most horrifying moments of the war,” Zelensky said.
He said no one in Ukraine knew what would happen and all Ukrainians were reminded of “what Chernobyl means.”
Speaking of the Russian invasion and the security threat it poses, Zelensky told the U.N. General Assembly delegates, “In Ukraine, we know exactly what we are dealing with.”
Zelensky then turned to what he called the date which must never come.
“Since Russia cannot defeat our people’s resistance on the battlefield, Putin is looking for other ways to break the Ukrainian spirit,” he said. “One of these methods is attacking our energy infrastructure.”
Zelensky said Russia has destroyed all Ukraine’s thermal power plants and a large part of the country’s hydroelectric capacity.
“This is how Putin is preparing for winter, hoping to torment millions of Ukrainians,” Zelensky said. “Ordinary families, women, children. Ordinary towns, ordinary villages. Putin wants to leave them in the dark this winter.”
He said Putin’s Russia seeks to force Ukrainians to “suffer and surrender.”
He asked U.N. delegates to imagine their countries with 80% of energy capacity gone.
He said according to Ukraine intelligence reports, Russia is planning to attack Ukraine nuclear power plant infrastructure to disconnect the plants from the power grid.
He said Russia is using satellite images from other countries to get details about the infrastructure of Ukraine nuclear power plants.
A missile or drone strike or any critical incident could lead to a nuclear catastrophe, Zelensky said.
“A day like that must never come,” he said.
He said nuclear power plants must be safe. He warned if Russia causes a nuclear plant catastrophe, “radiation does not respect national borders.”
He said the deepest understanding of war is always found in the home it destroys.
“It’s the Ukrainian people who feel the full pain of this war,” Zelensky said. “It’s the Ukrainian children who are learning to distinguish the sounds of different types of artillery and drones because of Russia’s war.”
He said his people are forcefully separated by occupation because Putin decided he can do whatever he wants.
He thanked every country supporting Ukraine in the defense against Russia’s invasion. Zelensky said nearly 100 countries support Ukraine’s peace formula to end the war.
He said it is difficult for the U.N. to stop the war due to the veto power Russia exerts in the National Security Council.
But he said Ukraine’s peace formula can justly end the war and “there is no veto power in it.”
He added that it’s the best, most effective and comprehensive plan for a just end to the war.
“We must restore nuclear safety,” Zelensky said. “Energy must stop being used as a weapon. We must ensure food security. We need to bring home all our captured soldiers and civilians, possibly deported to Russia.”
Zelensky said the U.N. Charter must be upheld to guarantee Ukrainian rights to integrity and sovereignty just like the U.N. does for any other nation.
He said the U.N. needs to prevent destruction of the environment caused by the war.
He insisted that any end to the war must be a full and just peace.
Zelensky declared that “Ukrainians will never accept, never accept why anyone in the world believes that such a brutal colonial past, which suits no one today, can be imposed on Ukraine now instead of a normal peaceful life.”
He concluded, “Be the united nations, and that will bring us peace.”