On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took center stage at the United Nations, where US Vice President Joe Biden admonished the world not to “appease” Russia’s “naked aggression.”
For the first time since the conflict, Zelensky attended the annual UN General Assembly, dressed in his distinctive military fatigues, and listened closely as Biden urged solidarity against Russia’s incursion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who did not attend the meeting in New York, is hoping that the world “will grow weary and allow it to brutalize Ukraine without consequence,” according to Biden.
“But I ask you this: If we abandon the core principles of the UN Charter to appease an aggressor, can any member state in this body feel confident that they are protected? If we allow Ukraine to be carved up, is the independence of any nation secure?” Biden said.
Although Biden received cheers from the chamber when he appealed for Ukraine’s territorial integrity, some key international leaders, including China and allies Britain and France, chose to skip this year’s UN session.
Zelensky is scheduled to meet with leaders that are less sympathetic to Ukraine’s cause, including Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has previously stated that Ukraine shares guilt for the crisis and has criticized billions of euros in Western military aid to Kyiv.
Lula, who portrays himself as an impartial mediator, told the United Nations General Assembly that “work needs to be done to create space for negotiations.”
“A lot of money is invested in weapons and very little in development,” Lula stated.