Peace: Not In our Time

"Any parallel or alternative attempts to seek peace are, in fact, efforts to achieve a lull instead of an end to the war. [Those who support our cause must] put pressure on [Russia]."

"Do not divide the world. Be united nations. And that will bring us peace."

"When some propose alternatives, half-hearted settlement plans, so-called sets of principles, it not only ignore the interests and suffering of Ukrainians who are affected by the war the most, it not only ignores reality, but also gives Putin the political space to continue the war."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

UN Photo/Loey Felipe

Volodymyr Zelenskyy (at podium and on screens), President of Ukraine, addresses the general debate of the General Assembly’s 79th session

 

Speaking before the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, Ukraine's president appealed to global leaders to take a firm stand alongside his country, not to seek "a lull" rather than a "real, just peace", at a time when two years have passed since the Russian 'special military action' invasion of Ukraine and the third year has begun of unremitting warfare, the constant bombing of Ukraine's territory and the slow and steady advance of Putin's territorial plans, at the dreadful price of thousands of human lives, both Ukrainian and Russian.

President Zelenskyy is only too well aware of the pressure he faces from his allies in the West, as well as some of his own fellow Ukrainians, anxious to have him negotiate a ceasefire. Yet he well understands that such a ceasefire will inevitably work in Moscow's favour; no withdrawal of forces, no return of Ukrainian sovereign territory to its rightful owners, no reparations from the wholesale destruction of civilian infrastructure in towns and cities shelled indiscriminately by the Russian military. 

 

Above all, it would give Russia the opportunity to rest, regroup, re-plan, recruit and return refreshed to the battlefield.

As fr as Volodymyr Zelenskyy is concerned, no alternative exists to the peace formula he presented two years earlier that seeks the expulsion of all Russian fores from his country, Russian accountability for war crimes, release of Ukrainian prisoners of war and deportees, nuclear safety, energy and food security assurances. Russia has not yet addressed the UNGA's annual gathering of presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and allied high officials.

Only low-level Russian diplomats have been dispatched to represent Russia on the world stage to hear out Zelenskyy's speech. High-level meetings at the General Assembly are absent the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, this year;  his foreign minister Sergey Lavrov is mean to present Russia's address. From Moscow, Dmitry Peskov attacked Zelenskyy's remarks at the Assembly when the Security Council was told Russia needs to "be forced into peace", by the Ukrainian president.

According to Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, that claim represents "a fatal mistake", as "a profound misconception which, of course, will inevitably have consequences for the Kyiv regime". This year's UN General Assembly sees the war in Ukraine moved aside from stage central while the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, and escalating developments along the Israel-Lebanese border now share the spotlight.

Ukraine officials rejected a proffered Chinese and Brazilian peace plan. President Zelenskyy addressed that as well: "You will not boost your power at Ukraine's expense", he remarked heatedly. Both Ukraine and Russia are locked in a grinding battle along their contiguous border, a 1,000 kilometre front line. With Ukraine facing down Moscow's territorial expansion ambition under the thin guise of 'saving' Ukraine from neo-fascism, and Russian-speakers in east Ukraine from Kyiv's malign intentions.

 

Russia's intimidating tactics veer off into not-too subtle threats highlighting its huge nuclear arsenal. 

Shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin alluded to a shift in his country’s nuclear doctrine, Sergey Lavrov accused the West of using Ukraine as a tool to try "to defeat" Moscow strategically, "preparing Europe for it to also throw itself into this suicidal escapade."

"I’m not going to talk here about the senselessness and the danger of the very idea of trying to fight to victory with a nuclear power, which is what Russia is."

Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs addresses the UNGA meeting on September 28, 2024  AP