Vladimir Putin is expanding his war into Europe and no country should feel safe from the Russian threat, Volodymyr Zelensky warned in an impassioned speech to the UN General Assembly.
The Ukrainian leader made a plea for countries worldwide to band together and called on the UN to help bring a halt to “the most destructive arms race in human history”, as he took to the stage one day after Donald Trump’s hour-long speech on Tuesday.
“Putin will keep driving the war forward, wider and deeper,” Mr Zelensky said. “We told you before: Ukraine is only the first. Now Russian drones are already flying across Europe, and Russian operations are already spreading across countries.
“Putin wants to continue this war by expanding it, and no one can feel safe right now.”
Nato countries have rallied together against repeated Russian incursions into European airspace recently.
Earlier this month, around 20 drones entered Polish airspace; last week, three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian territory, where they remained for 12 minutes; and there were several other smaller-scale incursions, including into Romania.
An increasingly disillusioned US president said on Tuesday that Nato member countries should shoot down Russian aircraft if they enter their airspace. He later made surprise social media comments in a dramatic shift in tone on the Ukraine war, stating that Kyiv could push Russian forces back to the “original Borders from where this War started”.
But Mr Zelensky’s speech on Wednesday cut a graver tone than Trump’s Truth Social comments. The Ukrainian president sought to put the onus for stopping the spread of chaos on the international community.
He warned that without supporting Ukraine militarily and cutting Russia off economically, Putin’s aggression could lead to a devastating arms race.
“We are now living through the most destructive arms race in human history”, Mr Zelensky told delegates, stating that AI-controlled drones will be the next major breakthrough to be used in real combat.
“Weapons move fast. Now companies are already working on drones that can shoot down other drones, and it’s only a matter of time before drones are fighting drones, attacking critical infrastructure, and targeting people all by themselves, fully autonomous and with no human involved, except the few who control AI systems.”
Mr Zelensky called for “global rules now for how AI can be used in weapons”, adding that this is “just as urgent as preventing the spread of nuclear weapons”.
“Every year that this war goes on, weapons become even more deadly. And only Russia deserves to be blamed for this,” he added.
Ukraine has decided to begin exporting its weapons to allies, Mr Zelensky added, promising that they “don’t need to start this race from scratch”.
“We are ready to make our modern weapons become your modern security. We have decided to open up arms export. And these are powerful systems tested in a real war when every international institution failed,” he said.
The Kremlin, meanwhile, earlier lashed out at a “deeply mistaken” Trump following his scathing social media comments, in which he also described Russia’s war as “aimless”.
“As far as we understand, President Trump’s statements were made after communicating with Zelensky and, apparently, under the influence of a vision set out by Zelensky,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. “This vision contrasts sharply with our understanding of the current state of affairs.
“The fact that Ukraine is being encouraged in every possible way to continue hostilities and the argument that Ukraine can win something back is, in our view, a mistaken argument … The dynamics on the front lines speak for themselves.”
Bristling at Mr Trump’s description of the Russian military as a “paper tiger”, Peskov responded: “Russia isn’t a tiger, it’s more associated with a bear. There are no paper bears. Russia is a real bear.”
Peskov said Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will hold talks with US secretary of state Marco Rubio later on Wednesday, where he will provide “real information” about the state of the front line in Ukraine.
