Spotlight on the Glass Palace in New York, where the United Nations General Assembly is underway. Last night Zelensky’s speech in a cry, “the world will not abandon Kiev.” In the night Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also arrived in the Big Apple.
On the agenda would be a historic event: Lavrov is expected to take part in a UN Security Council summit on Ukraine in which Zelensky would also participate.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is still under attack. Overnight Russian drones bombed the Kremenchuk oil refinery in the central Poltava region. A fire broke out and no casualties are reported at the moment.
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Face-to-face between Zelensky and Lavrov
At a Security Council session devoted to the Ukrainian conflict, the president will come face-to-face with the Russian foreign minister and outline the details of Kiev’s peace plan to stop the war with Moscow.
Zelensky announced that Ukraine is organizing a peace summit with all world leaders “who do not tolerate the aggression” of Russia, which “is pushing the world toward the final war.”
He did not specify when or where the summit will be held. Applauded at the beginning and end, the Ukrainian president then assured that at today’s special session of the U.N. Security Council he will provide further details on his peace plan, which is based on national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and which already has the “full or partial support of more than 140 states and international organizations.”
Later, in an interview with CNN, Zelensky reiterated that “Putin cannot win the war.” And that “Ukraine wants to end the conflict as soon as possible.” “We need the F16 jets now,” the Ukrainian leader said again.
Read also: Ukraine, why Crimea is now the key: Zelensky opens to a “political” solution
The UN Security Council
Zelensky spoke at the UN General Assembly yesterday after Joe Biden. The U.S. president had anticipated his appeal to the international community not to abandon Kiev, even against potential aggressors tomorrow.
“This is a time when we can once again rhyme hope and history,” the White House leader later said – quoting a line from his favorite poet Seamus Heaney – at the gala dinner for UN leaders held at the Met in New York.
Biden stressed that “we are facing a moment of great upheaval.” And “the whole world looks to the United States as a leader.” He then called the invasion by Russia “a brazen attack.”
Zelensky: “If Trump knows how to end the war say so”
President Zelensky from the United Nations General Assembly in New York urged Donald Trump to publicly share his peace plans if the former U.S. president has an ace up his sleeve to end the conflict between Kiev and Moscow.
At CNN microphones, the Ukrainian premier warned that “any peace plan in which Ukraine has to give up part of its territory is unacceptable.”
And he threw the ball to Trump. “Now he can share his idea publicly, without wasting time and saying, ‘My formula is to stop the war. Stop all this tragedy and stop Russian aggression.’ If the idea is how to take part of our territory and give it to Putin, this is not the formula for peace.”
It all stems from the statement by Trump, who is favored for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, that he would be able to strike a deal with Zelensky and Putin to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours. ”I would make a fair deal for everybody. No, I would make it fair,” he said.
