Message

Zelenskyy’s final message

By SUZANNE LYNCH

On Wednesday night, in the stunning surroundings of the Cipriani on Wall Street, Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered his final message to the New York crowd as he prepared to depart the city for Washington: Don’t give up on Ukraine.

Details: The Ukrainian president, fresh from a series of meetings at U.N. headquarters after delivering a speech at the Security Council, struck an incongruous note, dressed in his trademark khaki T-shirt amid the glitz and glamor of the Atlantic Council Global Citizen Awards event.

But his message and sincerity was unmistakable. “I address this award to all Ukrainian men and women in uniform. I address this award to all our sweet children who have been killed by Russian terrorists — I will never forget them,” he told the audience of prime ministers, C-suite corporate execs and civil society activists. “I address this award to our fathers [and] mothers who brought up [such] brave Ukrainian soldiers. And to all teachers and to all doctors who didn’t leave the Ukraine from [the] first days of full-scale war.”

Next stop Washington: Zelenskyy may have spent the past 36 hours focused on winning over non-Western countries that have been equivocal about their support for the Ukrainian cause, but today his focus will be on the U.S. as he travels to Washington. One of his tasks? Convincing wavering Republicans that they should continue to provide funds and weapons to Ukraine (among his engagements is a meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy). He is also expected to visit the Pentagon. (The visit comes just after another ally, Poland, announced it is no longer sending weapons to Kyiv.)

Message for U.N.: Zelenskyy pulled no punches in his speech to the Security Council Wednesday — but his target was not so much Russia as it was the United Nations itself. As Nahal, Eric Bazail-Eimil and Mona write, the Ukrainian leader slammed the international body’s ineffectiveness in the face of Russia’s war on Kyiv in a tension-filled special session.

547 days and counting … since full-fledged Russian aggression means “547 reasons for changes in this chamber,” he said, telling the Security Council that it was time to reform. “Veto power in the hands of the aggressor has pushed the U.N. into deadlock.”

Telling it as it is: He wasn’t the only one to slam the Security Council. “Let’s not beat around the bush. Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has once again shown the inability of the Security Council to act,” said Austria’s Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg. “It’s high time that we address the obvious structural problems.”

Close encounter: In the end, a head to head between Zelenskyy and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov never happened. Lavrov arrived after Zelenskyy left.

Security Council marathon: The action will continue today at the U.N.’s key decision-making body, with Wednesday’s debate due to spill over because of the number of speakers on the list.

Diplomat of the day: Albanian Prime Minister (and former basketball star) Edi Rama, who shut down Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia’s complaints about Ukraine’s inclusion with this one-line riposte: “There is a solution for this. If you agree you will stop the war, President Zelenskyy will not take the floor.” And threw in a bit of Russian literary history to boot.

“Who is the aggressor and who is the aggressed? It is the same sharp difference between war and peace, as Tolstoy would remind you. Go back and read it.”