Zelenskyy, Biden, Duda Call for Unity with Ukraine to Stave off russian aggression

Addressing the most pressing issue facing civilization today, President Biden, President Zelenskyy and President Duda passionately urged world leaders gathered at the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly on September 19 to unconditionally support Ukraine in its existential war against russian invaders while warning against the dire consequences of a russian victory.

Denunciations against the evil empire that is russia for invading Ukraine and tearing asunder the security architecture established in the wake of World War II once again reverberated in the historic UN General Assembly Hall. These three national leaders together with others that have supported Ukraine called for a united front to stave off moscow’s military advances against Ukraine and ultimately the free world.

As Ukrainian, Polish and other Eastern European leaders have been predicting since russian armed forces crossed Ukraine’s border more than 18 months ago, if moscow defeats Ukraine then independent, democratic Eastern European countries will cease to exist.

“The United States of America [is] supporting Ukraine financially and I’m grateful for this. I just think they're not supporting only Ukraine alone. If Ukraine falls, Putin will surely go further. What will the United States of America do when Putin reaches the Baltic states? When he reaches the Polish border? He will. This is a lot of money. We have a lot of gratitude. What else must Ukraine do for everyone to measure our huge gratitude? We are dying in this war. Look, if Ukraine falls, what will happen in ten years? Just think about it. If [the Russians] reach Poland, what’s next? A Third World War?” Zelenskyy elaborated on CBS’ Sixty Minutes program on September 17.

In the United Nations, the leader of wartime Ukraine, dressed in his khaki shirt, called for global unity as the essential ingredient to defeat russia. “Please, hear me. Let unity decide everything openly. While russia is pushing the world to the final war, Ukraine is doing everything to ensure that after russian aggression no one in the world will dare to attack any nation. Weaponization must be restrained. War crimes must be punished. Deported people must come back home. And the occupier must return to their own land. We must be united to make it. And we will do it,” he urged.

Speaking a couple of hours earlier, President Biden told his colleagues that “We have to stand up to this naked aggression today and deter other would-be aggressors tomorrow. That’s why the United States – together with our allies and partners around the world – will continue to stand with the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their sovereignty and territorial integrity and their freedom.”

Biden, who has been a comprehensive champion of Ukraine’s cause even as he faces partisan opposition on Capitol Hill, also asserted that the world must remain united in defending Ukraine against russian aggression, warning that no nation can be secure if “we allow Ukraine to be carved up” as the President tries to rally support for Kyiv’s effort to repel a nearly 19-month-old russian invasion.

He appealed to world leaders to not let support for Ukraine diminish, arguing that russia is counting on countries to grow tired of prolonged conflict in Kyiv which will “allow it to brutalize Ukraine without consequence.” Russia alone is standing in the way of a resolution, Biden argued, saying that moscow’s price for peace was ‘Ukraine’s capitulation, Ukraine’s territory and Ukraine’s children.’”

“I ask you this: If we abandon the core principles of the United States to appease an aggressor, can any member state in this body feel confident that they are protected?” Biden said in his address. “If we allow Ukraine to be carved up, is the independence of any nation secure?”

He answered his own question with a simple “No.”

President Zelenskyy told the member-states that “The goal of the present war against Ukraine is to turn our lands, our people, our resources into a weapon against you, against the international rules-based order. Many seats in the General Assembly Hall may become empty if russia succeeds with its treachery and aggression.”

He said russia as a terrorist state with a nuclear arsenal has no place in the United Nations and should be expelled. Russia threatens peace and security around the world with its weapons of mass destruction and it must be forced to surrender them, Zelenskyy said, reminding the attendees that Ukraine did so voluntarily three decades ago.

“Ukraine gave up its third largest nuclear arsenal. The world then decided russia should become a keeper of such power. Yet, history shows it was russia who deserved nuclear disarmament the most, back in the 1990s. And russia deserves it now – terrorists have no right to hold nuclear weapons. No right! But truly not the nukes are the scariest now,” he declared.

Zelenskyy accused moscow of weaponizing everything for the sake of defeating and subjugating Ukraine.

“There are many conventions that restrict weapons but there are no real restrictions on weaponization. First, let me give you an example – the food. Second, weaponization of energy. Now the threat is even greater. Russia is weaponizing nuclear energy. Not only is it spreading its unreliable nuclear-power-plant-construction-technologies, but it is also turning other countries’ power plants into real dirty bombs,” he detailed. 

“The third example is children. Unfortunately, various terrorist groups abduct children to put pressure on their families and societies. But never before would mass kidnapping and deportation become a part of the government policy. Not until now…Those children in Russia are taught to hate Ukraine, and all ties with their families are broken… This is clearly a genocide.”

President of Poland Andrzej Duda echoed his colleagues’ condemnation of russia’s crimes against humanity in Ukraine, saying “Today once again, it befell on us to live in dangerous times! As a result of Russia’s full-scale aggression on Ukraine, hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives or suffered injuries, millions were forced to flee their own home country, and hundreds of millions worldwide are facing the specter of famine, and serious economic disruptions. Russia’s brutal aggression brought immense global problems in its aftermath. It put to a test international world order.”

Saying that Poles “understand the tragedy of Ukraine better than any other country in the world, and the tragedy of other countries experiencing the pandemonium of war,” Duda said “When unleashing the war in Ukraine, vladimir putin wanted to restore the russian empire, to divide the world and to make Europe systematically dependent on his raw materials. He has not succeeded! It is my firm belief that he will no longer succeed.”

In a speech almost entirely devoted to the war against Ukraine, Duda said “This brutal war must end, and not be converted into a frozen war! This can only be done by restoring the full territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders!

“Poland’s position in the face of any war is clear and straightforward: we demand absolute respect for internationally recognized national borders. The inviolability of these borders is a fundamental element of the world order. Today, the victim is Ukraine. Tomorrow, it could be any one of us, if we do not follow these ironclad rules, if we do not insistently enforce compliance with international law!”

Returning to the prevailing, hopeful theme of international law and order, respect for national borders, and mutual security, Zelenskyy concluded his address by stating “Look – for the first time in modern history, we have a real chance to end the aggression on the terms of the nation which was attacked. This is a real chance for every nation – to ensure that aggression against your state, if it happens, God forbid, will end not because your land will be divided and you will be forced to submit to military or political pressure, but because your territory and sovereignty will be fully restored.”

Decisive Week for Ukraine and the Free World

The United States, the free world and the international community will have an historic opportunity this coming week to unitedly declare again that they will longer tolerate global terrorism and crimes against humanity as they did in 1939, when they mobilized a joint front to defeat Nazi Germany.

These countries have been patiently, with trepidation observing the latest iteration of russia’s war against Ukraine for more than a year and a half while Ukrainian civilians have been killed, their cultural heritage destroyed, and ecology of their homeland contaminated for generations to come.

The member-states of the United Nations will gather in New York City for the 78^th Session of the General Assembly, which presents a reasonably suitable venue to reassert once again the assemblage’s condemnation of moscow’s wanton violation of international law and order. This global forum has in the past adopted more than one resolution denouncing russia for illegally seizing and occupying Crimea and for invading Ukraine. It has authorized sanctions against the powerbrokers in the kremlin, beginning with putin. It should not waste this chance not only to repeat its strong position but to urge the member-states to take decisive action in defense of Ukraine for the sake of global peace and security. A return to the UN's sustainable agenda for global peace, security and development will be impossible without a defeated and humbled russia.

Ukraine can depend on the continuous supportive statements and actions by the United States, Canada, Great Britain as well as the former captive nations of Eastern Europe. It would be unimaginable that no solid action would be undertaken in the wake of such declarations. Armaments and monetary aid should continue to flow into Ukraine.

Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy, who will be one of 193 heads of states or other potentates to address the General Assembly, will meet again with President Biden in the White House.

With the pro-Ukraine mood on Capitol Hill and among Americans wavering, Zelenskyy’s task to muster American and international support for Ukraine is daunting. Today, the Republicans are creating trouble for Ukraine in the hallways of Congress. Ironically, they, descendants of Nixon, Goldwater, Reagan and McCain, must be persuaded that the fate of the free world and Ukraine depends on their support for Ukraine.

To be sure, it’s not that they’re abandoning Ukraine for the sake of russia, but rather they are bored, tiring of the war’s seemingly endless duration, forgetting at the same time that the arduous task of liberating Ukrainian towns can’t be completed haphazardly. The international community, as we witnessed at the G20 summit, fears for its livelihood, which is being torn asunder by russia’s war against Ukraine, not by Kyiv. Consequently, for the pipeline of goods and services that it needs from Ukraine and the region to remain intact, the wealthiest collection of countries must also share the burden of defeating russia or at least creating an environment for its defeat. The fundamental reasons for russia’s defeat and Ukraine’s victory have been expounded frequently at every location by politicians, academics and the citizens on the street.

Zelenskyy will surely present to Biden and the Joint Chiefs of Staff a laundry list of arms and other supplies that Ukraine needs to defeat russia. So, give Ukraine what it needs. Thus far, as we’ve been witnessing, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have been successful in turning the tide of the war against russia. Towns are being liberated, acreage is being reclaimed, russian naval vessels are sunk, moscow itself is under attack, and Crimea may be freed of russian occupation.

All this signals that Ukraine has the means and skills to valiantly and triumphantly fight a 21^st century war against what has turned out to be a second-rate military power. It is incumbent upon the free world to stand with Ukraine and support all its military and political needs while not getting bogged down with claims of corruption. All countries, the United States included, suffer from corruption.

As former prime minister of the United Kingdon Boris Johnson declared “What the hell are we waiting for?” Johnson called on the U.K. to provide howitzers and Storm Shadow cruise missiles and “as much help as we can give them with drone technology.”

Johnson, who is regarded as a cult figure in war-torn Ukraine, respected for his steadfast support of its fight to repel russia’s brutal invasion, wrote in an article in the Spectator that Ukrainians did not want warm words but “weaponry to finish the job – and so I simply do not understand why we keep dragging our feet.”

“Why are we always so slow?” he asked. “How can we look these men in the eye, and explain the delay? Throughout this war we have underestimated the Ukrainians and overestimated Putin, and we are doing the same today.”

Warning about what could happen if Ukraine would lose the war, Johnson said, “If Putin wins – and all he has to do, to claim a victory, is hang on to at least a chunk of the territory he has taken since 24 February 2022 – the dreadful message will go round the world: that this was the moment when the democracies pledged to stand up to the autocracies, and we flunked it. The story of Ukraine will be of lion-hearted Ukrainian troops finally betrayed by western loss of nerve.”

Unconditional international support for Ukraine’s victory over russia is the only guarantee of global and regional peace and security. Russia upended the international security architecture that was established after World War II. It was built by the victorious allies after a long and bloody war against Nazi Germany, which is also the formula for success and peace today. Complete victory over russia will ensure the emergence of the right circumstances for rebuilding Ukraine and preserving that region of the world for generations to come.

The alternative, if russia would prevail in its war against Ukraine, would be fatal for humanity. Russia would secure dangerous allies such as Iran and North Korea. The Eastern European region, north of the Black Sea, would resemble the Middle East, where Muslim radicals periodically launch deadly missile attacks against Israel. Russia would successfully ride roughshod over developing countries in Africa and Asia. Ukraine would be the third bloody regional hotbed of regular russian attacks against unarmed civilians, sucking all democracies’ resources in the hope of containing a rabid belligerent country.

If the free world can muster the strength to halt russia’s war against Ukraine and allow Kyiv to defeat the aggressor-nation thereby allowing the world to return to a semblance of peaceful normality, then this week will surely be remembered in history as a time when dignity of captive nations and the free world was restored.