Key events
Julian Borger
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, dressed in an olive green long-sleeved polo shirt, used the word “genocide” to refer to the abduction of tens of thousands of Ukrainian children by Russian occupation authorities, who the Ukrainian president said were being brainwashed into hating their homeland.
“Never before has mass kidnapping and deportation become a part of the government policy. Not until now,” Zelenskiy said on Tuesday, adding that the Ukrainian government knew of the names of tens of thousands of abducted children and had “evidence of hundreds of thousands of others kidnapped by Russia in the occupied territories of Ukraine and later deported”.
The international criminal court has issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and a top aide for their involvement in ordering the child deportations.
Zelenskiy said:
We are trying to get the children back home, but time goes by and what will happen to them? Those children in Russia are taught to hate Ukraine and all ties with their families are broken. And this is clearly a genocide.
“When hatred is weaponized against one nation, it never stops there,” he added.
Julian Borger
Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the UN general assembly on Tuesday that Russia is committing genocide in Ukraine and urged world leaders to attend a peace summit to help stop the invasion and future wars of aggression.
Appearing in the assembly chamber in New York for the first time in person, the Ukrainian president used the opportunity to try to galvanise support for his country’s plight among many countries, especially in the global south, many of whom have sought to sit on the fence in the face of the full-scale Russian invasion.
Zelenskiy said he would give further details of his peace plan, based on national sovereignty and territorial integrity, at a special session of the security council on Wednesday. He said all leaders “who do not tolerate any aggression” would be invited to a peace summit. He did not say when or where the meeting would be held, but he has previously expressed the hope it would happen by autumn this year.
Zelenskiy to speak at UN security council meeting as Biden meets Netanyahu
Good morning and welcome to our live blog covering the 78th session of the United Nations general assembly, where world leaders convene in New York amid a backdrop of the war in Ukraine, high food prices, a series of climate-related catastrophes, new political crises in west Africa and Latin America and economic instability.
For a second day, heads of state and government from at least 145 countries are expected to take the dais at this year’s general assembly, presided over by Trinidad and Tobago’s Dennis Francis.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is set to take part in a special UN security council session on Russia’s war in his country, which is also due to be attended by the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. Asked whether he’d remain seated at the 15-member body’s horseshoe-shaped table if Lavrov speaks, Zelenskiy told reporters on Monday: “I don’t know how it will be, really.”
On Tuesday, in his first in person address to the UN general assembly since Russia’s full-scale invasion, Zelenskiy accused Russia of committing genocide in Ukraine and urged world leaders to attend a peace summit to help stop the invasion and future wars of aggression. He said he would give further details of his peace plan, based on national sovereignty and territorial integrity, at Wednesday’s special session.
Meanwhile, US president Joe Biden is scheduled to meet the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, today, in a long-anticipated meeting amid a strained relationship between the two leaders. Biden and Netanyahu – who returned to office nine months ago – will “discuss a range of bilateral and regional issues focused on the shared democratic values between the United States and Israel and a vision for a more stable and prosperous and integrated region, as well as to compare notes on effectively countering and deterring Iran”, a White House spokesperson said.
