Russia can only be forced into peace, Zelenskyy tells U.N.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed that Russia can only be forced into a peace settlement, and that any end to Russia two-year-old invasion must be based on the U.N. Charter, which enshrines sovereignty by member states. Zelenskyy questioned the sincerity of Russian President Vladimir Putin and stated that any end to Russia’s war against Ukraine will happen because the U.N. Charter will work.

Zelenskyy will meet with President Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday, who in an address to the United Nations urged international support for Ukraine until victory. His political positioning comes weeks ahead of a U.S. election, where Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has described billions of dollars of U.S. aid to Ukraine as wasteful and voiced admiration for Putin.

Zelenskyy promised a second “peace summit” and invited both China and India, key powers that have refused to go along with Western sanctions on Ukraine. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi welcomed rising pressure for diplomacy and insisted that dialogue and negotiation are the only viable way to settle the Ukraine crisis.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken charged that China has been fueling Russia’s military build-up through the export of items nominally for civilian use, including advanced electronics and machine tools. Blinken called for the United Nations to act against both North Korea, which has ramped up military supplies to Russia, and Iran, recently accused by U.S. intelligence of shipping short-range missiles to Russia.

Zelenskyy said of the two countries: “Russia has no legitimate reason — none at all — for making Iran and North Korea de facto accomplices in its criminal war in Europe, with their weapons killing us, killing Ukrainians.” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian denied Tehran has sent weapons and criticized Moscow for its “aggression.”