President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not a novice in the UN. His speech on September 23 at the debate of the 76th General Assembly was already the third at such a level. This time, the President was more confident: he accused the UN members of not helping Ukraine during the pandemic, spoke about the armed attack on his Assistant Serhiy Shefir, and made a counter-attack towards Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Attack on Shefir
Zelenskyy began his speech by mentioning the attack on his First Assistant, Serhiy Shefir. The intruders fired at his car from an automatic weapon, hitting the driver, but not hitting Zelenskyy's ally himself.
"This is the price of changes in the state, this is the price of reforms. Fortunately, Serhiy is alive. Fortunately, nothing threatens the driver's life now," Zelenskyy said.
He noted that this speech should be useful to each of the few present during his speech. According to political scientist Volodymyr Fesenko, this was an emotional step, because the President's team believes that this attack is a warning to the Head of State himself. However, according to Fesenko, this was most likely intended not for the leaders of world powers, but for the Ukrainian men on the street.
Zelenskyy did not ignore the President of the Russian Federation Putin as well. In the middle of his speech, he suddenly began to speak Russian, and in the end he explained that he simply repeated the quotes of the Russian Federation leader to emphasize that there would be no democracy soon and that Russia was working on this.
"Because no one else in the world feels safe. Let me emphasize: no one feels safe. And no one can hide behind international law, like behind a stone wall," Zelenskyy noted.
This is a successful tactical step, Fesenko believes: "Zelensky used Putin's weapon against Putin."
Again, it is not apparent that everyone at the UN is aware that the Ukrainian President, after Putin's refusal to meet face to face, is conducting a public discourse with the Russian leader. But the Head of State definitely knows that.
Recall that it all started in the spring. Zelenskyy openly addressed Putin, then criticized his article on Ukrainian-Russian relations. We also heard part of this virtual battle during the performance at the parade dedicated to the 30th anniversary of Ukrainian independence. Putin also, although not immediately, responded to Zelenskyy—in the media.
The Ukrainian leader could not resist criticizing the UN either. He called the organization a "retired superhero" who shows no signs of life. In addition, he accused the UN countries of not helping Ukraine to overcome the consequences of the pandemic. Although this is not true.
Was Zelenskyy's speech at the UN successful
"From the point of view of the speech content, the emphases were correct. Crimean issues, the war in Donbass, and the correct reaction that the UN and developed countries did not behave right in the story of the vaccine distribution. And the Western press immediately began to quote it. Once it is quoted, it means that the speech hit a target and was noticed," Fesenko notes.
However, political scientist Ihor Chalenko adheres to a different opinion regarding the situation with the coronavirus: "After all, Ukraine is one of the countries that got huge assistance, we were sent a lot of vaccines."
"As for the subject of Donbas, the mention of the elections in the Russian Federation and the issuance of Russian passports to Donbas residents, the speech turned out to be extraordinary, much better than a year and two years ago—four out of five," Chalenko summed up.
But this is only a subjective assessment of the expert. Let’s wait and see how the Western press will assess Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s speech. And will he not forget his vivid statements in a few days.
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