President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the 74th United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 25 in New York. It was the president’s debut at the assembly.
Zelensky dedicated his 15-minute speech to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“No one can feel safe when there is a war in Ukraine, a war in Europe,” he said.
The United Nations General Assembly holds a yearly general debate in late September, inviting world leaders to give speeches and hold bilateral meetings during the event.
For Zelensky, who took office on May 20, it is also his first official visit to the U.S.
“You all remember your first time (in the UN), when you are an unknown politician trying to draw attention to the problems of your country,” he said to the assembly.
Zelensky began his speech with the story of Vasyl Slipak, a Ukrainian baritone opera singer who was well-known outside Ukraine. Slipak was a frequent performer at the Paris Opera and London’s Royal Opera House.
In 2014, after Russia invaded Ukraine, Slipak volunteered to fight against the Russia-backed militants in eastern Ukraine. In 2016, Slipak was killed in action.
Speaking about Slipak, Zelensky held up a bullet like the one that killed the singer.
“The price of this bullet is $10 – that’s the cost of a human life,” he said. “(Russian backed militants) didn’t just end his career, they ended his life.”
As of 2019, over 13,000 people were killed due to the Russian invasion, and over 1.5 million people were displaced.
“There are thousands of such stories. There are millions of such bullets,” Zelensky said. “Welcome to the 21st century. The age of opportunity. Where instead of ‘being heard’ you have the opportunity to be killed.”
Zelensky mentioned the need to reform international institutions for them to be able to solve international conflicts and expressed his regret that nations and states still use war as a means of solving conflicts.
The president said that Ukraine deliberately gave up nuclear weapons and didn’t expect that the country would ever need them.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine ended up with the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world.
In 1994, then-President Leonid Kuchma signed the Budapest Memorandum, part of Ukraine’s accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The memorandum granted Ukraine security assurances from Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States in return for Kyiv giving up its nuclear stockpile.
Zelensky said he will dedicate his presidency to stopping the war and restoring peace, “but not at the cost of the lives of our people, liberty, or Ukraine’s right to choose its own path.”
“A strong leader is not the one who sends thousands to die,” said Zelensky. “A strong leader is the one who cherishes each life.”
