Zelensky describes Putin’s insatiable terror

Milan. Yesterday, addressing the UN General Assembly – in the presence of representatives from the Russian Federation – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “We know that Putin has recently stated once again that he will conquer our Donetsk region; he claims he only needs a few months. This is perhaps the seventeenth or eighteenth time in five years that he has made this promise. It’s always the same story: just a few more months, then he pushes back the deadline, and pushes it back again. Putin will do the same this time too. But afterwards, he will once again make it clear to the world that even our Donetsk region is not enough for him.” Putin is insatiable, says Zelensky, and “the longer he is able to wage this war, the more harm he will leave in his wake in this world”.

“Russian terror never stops,” said the EU Ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Mathernova, describing yesterday morning’s Russian attack in central Kyiv, which left two dead and more than 40 injured, with Russia’s “drones of horror” – the Geran-5s – back in action, shortly before the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, was due to meet the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, to discuss a very vague “limited ceasefire” concerning wheat and energy; shortly before Zelensky’s speech at the UN Headquarters; shortly before a Russian Mi-8 helicopter from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad entered Polish airspace for 300 metres, remained there for 42 seconds, and then turned back upon the arrival of Polish fighter jets – “Russia is once again testing the readiness of our air defence systems,” said the government in Warsaw.

The chronological sequence is important, because it demonstrates, time and again, that Putin is convinced he can escalate and expand his war against Ukraine and Europe because he has gone unpunished: “The conditions for entering into peace negotiations do not exist,” said his spokesperson Dmitri Peskov, yet Rubio has nonetheless invited the Kremlin leader to the G20 summit in Miami in December. Moscow wants no peace. On the contrary, it wants more war – and not just against the Ukrainians. Zelenskyy used his trip to New York to detail the Russian threat of war against Europe, including yesterday from the UN podium: its weapon is fear – drones, missiles, provocations, incursions – “anything that might make European governments worry more about the escalation than about supporting Ukraine”, Zelenskyy said during one of his meetings. The aim is not to conquer another country, but to break Western unity; and “if every violation goes unanswered, Moscow will continue to test the limits to see where the next line is” that can be crossed.

The President of Latvia, Edgars Rinkevics, told the UN: “Sometimes we call them hybrid threats, but that makes them sound as innocent as hybrid cars. In reality, these threats to international peace and security are just as dangerous as conventional wars.” “We are all in the same boat,” said the Latvian president, “none of us can tackle these threats alone.” The same message was conveyed by the Czech President, Petr Pavel, and the Estonian President, Alar Karis, yesterday at the UN. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte says: Europe must remain calm. The Trump Administration has shown no particular interest, let alone alarm, during these months of escalating Russian border incursions, acts of sabotage and attempted attacks. The US President told Zelensky to stop the attacks on Russian energy sites; Zelensky replied that human lives matter more than the price of diesel: help us, help us to stop Putin – that is the only way to achieve peace.