UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told world leaders Wednesday that Vladimir Putin is the only obstacle to ending “the ridiculous and never-ending war,” and he urged nations large and small to pressure the Russian president for peace by choking the country’s revenues and impeding its war efforts.
“Our target is Russia’s ability to finance this war, to drag it out, to make it more brutal and more destructive,” Zelenskyy told the U.N. General Assembly’s annual gathering. “Russia’s finances and Russia’s production are what must be stopped if Putin is to be stopped.”
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When Russia gets money from trade, “it always says no to diplomacy,” Zelenskyy argued, “so Russia’s revenues must remain a target.”
Earlier Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov clashed with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and his country's European supporters at a U.N. Security Council meeting, and Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met on the assembly sidelines and discussed the war.
Top US diplomat talks about potential for a ceasefire
Rubio later told reporters that Russia and Ukraine have expressed interest in a limited ceasefire that would halt attacks on grain shipments — both countries are major exporters — and on each country’s energy sectors, which have been targeted in escalating drone and missile attacks.
Rubio said reaching even a partial deal would be difficult but worthwhile, noting that Zelenskyy has publicly endorsed such a plan. The United States would be willing to help make it happen, Rubio said.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry made no mention of a partial deal on grain shipments in a statement after the Lavrov-Rubio meeting. The statement reiterated that the root causes of what it calls its “special military operation” must be addressed.
At the Security Council, Lavrov said Russia will not “pause” its military action, claiming Europe would use it to “pump" Ukraine with weapons. He also made no mention of any kind of grain and energy deal, called Ukraine’s government “terrorists,” and said Moscow’s military operation aims to ensure Russia’s security and the rights of Russian speakers.
Lavrov is due to address the General Assembly on Saturday.
Zelenskyy cast doubt on Russia’s interest in ending the fighting. “Something always seems to stop Putin from saying, ‘That’s it. Enough. Peace,’” Zelenskyy said. “Can you even imagine him without war? He is ‘patient zero’, the one from whom this idea of war keeps spreading further.”
“The more freedom Putin has to act, the more dangerous the world becomes for everyone else,” the Ukrainian president warned.
The war has reverberated across the planet -- with global repercussions for fuel, fertilizer and grain shipments — and for geopolitics, widening divisions between Russia and the West.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, expecting to take the capital, Kyiv, in a week. But Ukraine rallied to defend its sovereignty, and the conflict has dragged on, with front-line positions in eastern and southern Ukraine largely unchanged since last year.
Western analysts estimate that over 500,000 Russian troops have been killed and that Ukraine has recorded more than 500,000 military casualties, including up to 140,000 deaths. Neither country discloses its own casualty totals.
Russia and Ukraine have intensified their long-range attacks with drones and missiles, and Russian drones pounded Kyiv Wednesday, killing two people and wounding 23; two others were injured by a strike that started a big fire at a shopping mall in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it struck Ukrainian military-industrial and energy facilities, logistics centers, and sea vessels overnight. The ministry said its air defenses intercepted more than 500 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions and Crimea, as well as the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. Crimea is the peninsula that Russia seized by force and illegally annexed in 2014.
Zelenskyy says ‘you can stand and survive’
Zelenskyy told the assembly that Russia has used 63,000 attack drones of different types against Ukraine so far this year alone. While celebrating that his own country “has proven that even against a much bigger enemy, you can stand and survive,” he implored world leaders to deny Putin money or foreign fighters.
“Limit his money. Limit his war,” the Ukrainian leader said.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine must boost its military and has already successfully tested four new jet-powered interceptor drones against Iranian-designed Shahed drones used by Russia in Ukraine. He also heralded drone and anti-ballistic missile agreements and programs with various countries.
Zelenskyy worried, however, that artificial intelligence “will begin to decide what happens on the battlefield” with the development of autonomous killer weapons.
“We need peace before we reach that point," he said.
“Sometimes, it may seem that Ukraine is focused, focused, only on war because we speak about weapons, we speak about defense and sanctions against the aggressor. But Ukrainians did not choose this war,” Zelenskyy said. “We choose not to die. …. We are defending ourselves.”
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AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed from New York.