Zelensky at UN: Putin Is 'Patient Zero', Serbia Skips Pact
Zelensky called Putin the war's 'patient zero' at the UN, as 51 nations, not including Serbia or the US, demanded an immediate ceasefire and free Black Sea shipping.
When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took the podium at the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday evening, September 23, and called Vladimir Putin the war’s “patient zero,” a joint statement from 51 countries was already circulating in the same building. It demands an immediate, unconditional ceasefire from Russia. Among the signatories, alongside the European Union, are Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania and Hungary, meaning nearly all of Serbia’s neighbors. Serbia is not on the list, and neither is the United States.
Zelensky’s Address to the General Assembly
Zelensky spoke in English for about 25 minutes, according to a transcript published by the independent outlet Meduza. He said that between January and August this year, over eight months, the Russian army had suffered 248,964 dead and severely wounded soldiers, while capturing a little over 1,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory, a significant part of which, he said, Kyiv has already retaken. By his count, that works out to 248 Russian lives lost for every square kilometer seized, while Russia, he noted, already holds 17 million square kilometers of its own territory.
“Putin is patient zero. He must be stopped,” Zelensky said from the podium of the General Assembly, adding that the Kremlin’s idea of war keeps spreading and brings only pain, instability and new crises.
The Ukrainian president also said Putin had recently promised, once again, through a representative of the American president, to seize the rest of Donetsk region, calling it “probably the 17th or 18th time in five years” he has heard the same promise. He said Ukraine currently holds prisoners of war from 47 countries who fought on Russia’s side, and that it had recently handed over two captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea, according to the American wire service UPI. He called on allies to keep the pressure on Russia’s energy revenues, and warned of the growing risk that battlefield decisions are increasingly made by artificial intelligence.
“This senseless, endless war against Ukraine must be ended. I don’t know a single world leader who would say otherwise,” Zelensky said, adding that “steps toward de-escalation are important and necessary before winter.”
Who Signed the Ceasefire Statement?
The joint statement from 51 UN member states was read in New York by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas, alongside Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot.
“Russia is trying to strangle Ukrainian grain exports, and in doing so is putting global food security at risk,” Kallas said, adding that the 51 countries back an agreement on free navigation in the Black Sea.
The statement calls on Russia to accept a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire, return deported Ukrainian civilians and children, exchange all prisoners of war, and allow free passage through the Black Sea for grain exports. “Ukraine has agreed to a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire; we call on Russia to finally do the same,” the statement from the 51 nations reads. Kallas also said Ukraine’s and Europe’s positions are aligned.
“Ukraine wants peace. We want peace. Russia must stop its aggression, accept a ceasefire and enter serious negotiations,” Kallas said.
For Belgrade, the diplomatic signal matters as much as the military one. Among the 51 signatories, besides the European Union as a bloc and Serbia’s neighbors listed above, are Israel, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom. The United States and Serbia are both missing from the list, even though Washington, through its own president, was actively engaged in Ukraine diplomacy during the same days.
What Comes Next
Zelensky also met with US President Donald Trump in New York earlier that same week, where, as we reported, the two agreed to continue cooperation on drone defense. According to UPI, Trump has already invited Putin to the G20 summit set for December in Miami, which, if it happens, would be the first meeting between the two presidents since the war in Ukraine began.
