Zelenskyy calls for peace at UN, warns of Russian threat to nuclear power plants | United Nations

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told the United Nations that Russia plans to attack Ukrainian nuclear power plants. He reiterated his calls for unity among world leaders to force Russia to the negotiating table to make a “just peace.”

His comments came after Vladimir Putin stepped up his nuclear rhetoric on Wednesday, telling a group of senior officials that Russia would consider using nuclear weapons if it were attacked by a state with conventional weapons.

In a speech to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, the Ukrainian leader said he had received information that Russia was gathering intelligence on Ukrainian nuclear power plants in preparation for a possible attack.

“Every missile or drone attack, every critical incident in the energy system can lead to a nuclear disaster … such a day must never come,” Zelenskyy said in a speech to the General Assembly. “And Moscow must understand this, and this partly depends on your determination to put pressure on the aggressor.”

He added: “These are nuclear power plants, they must be safe.”

Zelenskyy also said the war in Ukraine could pose a threat to the region with instability and a potential nuclear disaster if Russia continues with the attacks.

“If Russia, God forbid, causes a nuclear disaster in one of our nuclear power plants, the radiation will not respect state borders,” he said, comparing the consequences to the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986. “And unfortunately, several countries may feel those devastating effects.”

Zelenskyy last month accused Russian troops of setting fire to the site of the giant Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, with six Soviet-built reactors, the largest in Europe.

Russia seized the nuclear plant shortly after invading Ukraine in February 2022. Since then, the plant has been the target of repeated attacks, with both sides accusing each other of being responsible.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly expressed concerns about the safety of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and has called for “maximum restraint from all sides”.

While Zelenskyy was speaking in New York, Putin addressed Russia’s powerful Security Council on Wednesday, strongly warning the West not to allow Ukraine to launch deep strikes on Russian territory with Western long-range missiles.

Putin said Russia would consider using nuclear weapons if Moscow “receives reliable information about the beginning of a massive cross-border air strike by strategic and tactical aircraft, cruise missiles, drones and hypersonic weapons.”

The Russian leader added that proposals have been made to change Russia’s nuclear doctrine and said he would like to highlight one of the proposed important changes.

“It is proposed that aggression against Russia by a non-nuclear state, but with the participation or support of a nuclear state, be considered as their joint attack on the Russian Federation,” Putin said, in a thinly veiled threat to the West as foreign leaders continue to weigh whether to allow Ukraine to use its long-range weapons.

Putin often referred to Moscow’s nuclear arsenal, the world’s largest, in the early days of the invasion of Ukraine and repeatedly promised to use all means possible to defend Russia. He later appeared to tone down his rhetoric, but officials close to the Russian president have recently warned NATO countries that they risk provoking a nuclear war if they give Ukraine the green light to use long-range weapons.

Earlier this month, Putin said the West would fight Russia directly if it gave Ukraine permission — and that Russia would be forced to take “appropriate decisions,” without explaining what those measures might be.

Zelenskyy is expected to travel to Washington on Thursday to present his “victory plan” to Joe Biden at the White House. The plan is a road map for Ukraine to end the war on its own terms, and reportedly includes significant requests from the US and its allies for additional weapons and long-term economic and political support for Ukraine.

Ukrainian President is expected to meet Kamala Harris, who is running neck and neck with Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential election. The Republican candidate is not expected to meet Zelenskyy during the trip and has threatened to slash aid to Ukraine if elected. At campaign rallies this week, Trump reiterated that he would “leave Ukraine” if elected president.

In his speech, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine’s peace plan must be supported by world leaders and that alternative initiatives to hold talks with Putin would only help the Russian president. Zelenskyy specifically targeted a joint proposal from China and Brazil, which have proposed a six-point plan for peace in the war in Ukraine without the support of Kiev.

“If someone in the world is looking for alternatives … it probably means that they themselves want to do some of what Putin is doing … the question arises: what is the real interest?” Zelenskyy said. “Everyone should understand. You will not increase your power at the expense of Ukraine.”

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had spoken about the plan earlier on Wednesday and Zelensky’s comments appeared to be aimed at him.

“Maybe someone wants a Nobel Prize for his political biography for a frozen truce instead of real peace, but the only prizes Putin will give you in return are more suffering and disasters,” Zelenskyy said.

In his speech, Zelensky also criticized the UN Security Council, saying that it is “impossible to resolve issues of war and peace truly and fairly, because in the Security Council too much depends on the veto.”

Russia is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council and has a veto over all decisions taken by the council.

Zelensky indicated that the plan, which has been kept largely secret, would not be adopted directly by the UN, without revealing further details.

“If the aggressor exercises the veto, the UN is powerless to stop the war,” Zelenskyy said. “But the peace formula … there is no veto in it. That’s why it is the best chance for peace.”

Russian troops are threatening the Ukrainian road and rail junction of Pokrovsk, in an attack that Western officials say is killing 1,000 Russian soldiers a day.

At least two people, including three children, were killed and 12 others, including three children, were wounded in a Russian-led bomb attack in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk on Wednesday, Donetsk regional governor Vadym Filashkin said.