Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the 23rd (local time) likened Russian President Vladimir Putin to a “patient zero” — the initial source of infection — and urged UN member states to join in pressuring Russia. The war between the two countries, which erupted after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has now stretched on for over four years.
In his address to the 81st UN General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York on that day, President Zelenskyy stated, “The more freedom of action Putin is given, the more dangerous the world becomes. We must stop patient zero. We must block the space for him to act and spread evil.” He added, “Russia harbors ambitions toward our neighboring country Moldova and constantly threatens Poland and the three Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia).”
Recent simultaneous sabotage incidents suspected to be orchestrated by Russia across Europe were interpreted as the target of Zelenskyy’s remarks. On the 15th, an unidentified drone violated Lithuanian airspace and was shot down by an Italian fighter jet under NATO. On the 13th, near Yahodyn, Ukraine — just 2 kilometers from the Polish border — the locomotive of a passenger train bound for Poland was severely damaged by a Russian drone attack. On the 8th, Zelenskyy’s presidential aircraft, en route from Moldova to Norway, narrowly avoided a drone strike, which Ukrainian authorities suspect was carried out by Russia.
Zelenskyy also highlighted that while Russian military casualties exceeded 240,000 people between January and August this year, the territory seized from Ukraine amounted to only about 1,000 square kilometers. He criticized, “They keep going there to die, and Putin wants that.”
Regarding Ukraine’s drone attacks targeting Russian oil facilities, he said, “Oil itself is not Ukraine’s target,” but added, “The goal is to eliminate Russia’s ability to prolong the war and make it more brutal and destructive.” He continued, “If Russia has money, they always say ‘no’ in diplomacy.” Zelenskyy stated, “We know this winter could be very harsh. In response, there will be no choice but to make Russia suffer as well.” The Russian delegation remained in the hall and continued to watch Zelenskyy’s speech.
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