Russia can’t win on the battlefield, so they’re looking for other ways to torture Ukrainian civilians, Zelenskyy tells UN
“These were deliberate Russian attacks on our power plants and our entire power grid,” he said, noting that the action had destroyed all of Ukraine’s thermal power plants and a large part of its hydroelectric capacity.
“Here is how [Russian President] Putin is preparing for winter, hoping to torment millions of Ukrainians – ordinary families, women and children, and ordinary towns and villages. Putin wants to leave them in the dark and cold this winter, forcing Ukraine to suffer and surrender.”
President Zelenskyy asked leaders gathered in the General Assembly Hall for the annual general debate to imagine the situation in their countries if 80 percent of the energy system was destroyed.
“What would that life be like?”
He went on to note that according to his intelligence, Moscow plans to attack Ukraine’s nuclear power plants and their infrastructure with the aim of disconnecting them from the power grid.
“If Russia were to cause a nuclear disaster at one of our nuclear power plants, radiation would no longer respect national borders and, unfortunately, many countries could suffer dire consequences,” he warned.
Further in his speech, President Zelenskyy highlighted the failure of Security Council in resolving wars, noting that “when the aggressor uses the veto, the United Nations is powerless.”
He contrasted that with the peace formula he proposed, which he said was backed by nearly 100 countries and international organizations and in which there was “no veto”.
“That is why this is the best chance for peace – equal for all, effective and inclusive,” he said, noting that it prioritizes nuclear safety, energy security, food security, the return of prisoners of war and the protection of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
In that context, he criticized “alternative solutions, half-baked solutions” to the peace formula, adding that such efforts “not only ignore the interests and suffering of the Ukrainian people,” but also give “Putin the political space to continue the war.”
“Any parallel or alternative effort to seek peace is essentially an effort to achieve a lull rather than an end to war,” he said.
“I want peace for my people – real peace and just peace. And I am asking for your support – from all the nations of the world,” he added, “to unite the nations, and that will bring us peace.”
