Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday that the war between Russia and Ukraine cannot be calmed by talks alone, but that Moscow must be forced into peace.
Zelenskiy has sought the support of Western leaders for what he calls a “victory plan” to end the war that began when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of his country in February 2022.
Zelenskiy said the war would end one day but not because “someone got tired of the war” or through a trade with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a reference to proposals that Ukraine cede some territory seized by Russia to settle the conflict.
More than 2-1/2 years since the invasion, Russia controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory and has been advancing in the east.
Zelenskiy has said that if his plan is backed by the West, it will have a broad impact on Moscow, including a psychological one that could help compel Putin to end the war diplomatically.
Zelenskiy has said very little so far about his victory plan except that it would act as a bridge to a second Ukraine-led summit on peace that Kyiv wants to hold and invite Russia to later this year.
Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia spoke up at the meeting to reject the 15-member council’s hosting of Zelenskiy.
“Western countries could not refrain from poisoning the atmosphere once again, trying to fill the air time with the hackneyed Ukrainian issue,” Nebenzia said of the meeting.
The top diplomats of China and the United States also clashed in the meeting.