Draft For Ukraine President Zelensky’s September 2022 Remarks To The United Nations General Assembly- What Might He Say In Twenty-Four Minutes
The Head of State of Ukraine is scheduled to deliver remarks on Wednesday, 21 September 2022, as the 11th speaker during the 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm hours.
Good afternoon my fellow delegates….
I apologize for not shaving. I will share more about the reason.
My participation using video, either live or taped, was no longer appropriate as my country approaches the seventh month of new and renewed occupation by the armed forces of the Russian Federation.
Knowing the president of the Russian Federation, who is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, would choose not to enter this hall and defend before this body his actions commenced on 24 February 2022 made the decision for me to travel to New York City that much easier.
That the perpetrator of the damage, carnage, and destruction within and occupation of what was 7% before 24 February 2022 and is now 21% of the territory of Ukraine- just during the last seven months, and not including the damage and destruction inflicted since 2014, refuses to face you and defend his decisions is disrespectful.
I am here to face you and share with you why we want him and his soldiers out of our country, out of our lives.
You are tired of hearing about Ukraine, tired of governments focusing on Ukraine, tired of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) seeking funds for Ukraine (and our neighbor countries who have welcomed our refugees), and tired of the media focusing on Ukraine. Please believe me when I say to you that we in Ukraine wish that we did not require this attention.
Please also accept my apologies for sometimes rude statements. These seven months have been so very stressful for everyone in my country. I have asked for help. I have begged for help. I have requested help. I have required help. I have demanded help. And, some of my words were in hindsight insulting to those to whom I delivered messages. Not appropriate for me to demand anything of those who are helping us. I am sorry about that.
The government of the Russian Federation neither has the capacity nor interest to do to each of you what they have done to Ukraine first since 2014 and then further in 2022. But, other countries- perhaps your neighbor or neighbor’s neighbor do have a capacity to invade your country, seize your territory, murder, and destroy.
I will not devote this precious time with you to share another explanation about why all of us must confront the decisions of the Russian Federation and punish it for those decisions. Why the decisions of the government of the Russian Federation are existential commercially, economically, and politically for everyone. When one government gets away with this, easier for the next government to do it, and the next, and the next.
We could have prevented most of the death and destruction had we welcomed the armed forces of the Russian Federation who advanced into Ukraine towards our capital, Kyiv, through the courtesies of our neighbor to the north, Belarus.
Had we surrendered immediately; our government resigned; our citizens exchanged their Ukraine passports for those issued by the Russian Federation; had burned our currency, the hryvnia, and adopted the Ruble; and had relinquished our flag, the government of the Russian Federation would have ordered the armed forces of the Russian Federation to cease their “Special Military Operation.” Or, would they?
Simply stated: The price for ending the seven-month carnage, and the conflict existing since 2014, was our demise. An evaporation. Accepting that we never existed- nor would we exist again.
Then what? The new borders of the Russian Federation would have now included direct access to Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. How much time do you believe would be before the armed forces of the Russian Federation were aligned along these borders? How much time do you believe would be before the bilateral commercial, economic, and political relationships which run across those borders would be unattractively compromised?
On behalf of the forty-three million citizens of Ukraine I am here in this revered hall of the General Assembly of the United Nations to thank you for the support you have provided to my country. Support that has been provided often at enormous expense to your citizens. Now, Ukraine must help you. To do that, we must focus upon finding the resources to repay your generosity.
To the government and citizens of Poland, to the government and people of Hungary, to the government and people of Romania, to the government and people of Slovakia, and to the government and people of Moldova, despite in recovery still from issues relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, despite issues relating to product and service supply chains that began prior to 24 February 2022 and have gotten worse since, and despite the needs of your citizens, you opened your doors to Ukraine.
We are a resilient people. We would rather help than be helped.
On 24 February 2022, the government of the Russian Federation directed the armed forces of the Russian Federation to invade the sovereign territory of a neighboring country, a neighboring nation.
Along with invading Ukraine from the north using the territory and armed forces of Belarus, the armed forces of the Russian Federation invaded further through the Donbas Region (Donetsk and Luhansk) portions of which the armed forces of the Russian Federation along with their proxies have illegally occupied since 2014 along with the Crimea Peninsula.
During the last six months, I and members of our government have requested and sometimes demanded support in the form of military hardware, military technology, and money to help fund the obligations of the government to the citizens of Ukraine.
I am not here to ask for your financial support. Ukraine does not want your money. We want their money for us and for you.
I am asking for your support to redirect approximately US$340 billion in assets of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation which have been frozen by countries including the United States (with approximately US$38 billion), Japan, Canada, United Kingdom, and European Union-member countries including primarily among others France, Germany, and Switzerland.
There are officials in governments and leadership in financial institutions who suggest that confiscating the US$340 billion will lead to potential consequences- countries may not place assets in the countries who froze and then confiscated and then redirected the funds; countries may use alternative currencies to the United States Dollar, United Kingdom Pound Sterling, Euro, and Yen among others. There are officials and executives who suggest that the US$340 billion can be a carrot for the government of the Russian Federation to cease its war against Ukraine.
Of note, the spokesperson of the government of the Russian Federation declared months ago that confiscation of the assets would be “outright theft.” Yes, this statement from the country that has stolen lives, stolen people, stolen territory, and stolen agricultural commodities. The audacity.
When the citizens of the Russian Federation permitted their government, their elected leadership, to order the armed forces of the Russian Federation to invade another country, they forfeited any rights to the assets of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation deposited in other countries.
To place a perspective on the importance of the US$38 billion in Central Bank of the Russian Federation reserves frozen in the United States. The United States Congress allocated thus far in 2022 nearing US$50 billion for use relating to Ukraine. Does it make sense for United States taxpayers to borrow these funds when there is an immediate source for them? Of course not.
This great body, the United Nations, continues to have substantial shortfalls in funding for aid agencies.
Recently, the United States government contributed another US$68 million to the World Food Program (WFP) to purchase 150,000 metric tons of wheat from Ukraine. Why? To export to other countries whose citizens are suffering. And why are they suffering? Because the government of the Russian Federation prevented for six months approximately 20 million metric tons of agricultural commodities from departing Ukraine for destinations throughout the world.
So why should United States taxpayers fund that US$68 million when decisions by the government of the Russian Federation was the cause? This is another reason why the US$340 billion in Central Bank of the Russian Federation assets frozen should be used to compensate governments- their citizens, their consumers.
If the higher prices you have been forced to pay because of lack of supply of commodities for your citizens due to the decisions of the government of the Russian Federation, then logical that your countries should be reimbursed for the difference between what you should have paid and what you had to pay. This seems fair to me.
A recent media report said this: “Money for programs to help Ukrainians has been relatively plentiful. Money for people in most other parts of the world has not. The vast majority of the aid comes from a handful of donors — the United States, the European Union, a few individual European nations, Japan and Canada. Contributors can leave it up to the United Nations where to direct the money, but donors earmark the great majority of it for specific programs and countries. Those U.N. agencies and the private groups they work with need $48.7 billion in 2022 to aid more than 200 million people…, but more than seven months into the year, they have raised less than one-third of that. The U.N. humanitarian office has asked for more than $6 billion this year specifically to aid Ukrainians, both refugees who have fled the country and those still within it; its first Ukraine appeal raised more than the amount requested, and its second is on its way to being fully funded. Because of the crisis in Ukraine, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has seen one of the biggest jumps in need among U.N. aid agencies, to an estimated $10.7 billion this year. There are some 100 million displaced people in the world, up from about 39 million in 2011 — both refugees from places like Syria, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Venezuela, and those who are displaced within their own countries.”
I think about the unexpected tragedies in the world. For example, the flood last month in Pakistan. Relief agencies were desperate for funds to help the citizens of Pakistan. This is another example of how the frozen funds of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation can be used- the less funds taxpayers in countries are sending to Ukraine, the more funds are available for use when the world needs help.
My fellow delegates, we in Ukraine do not want this reality. I know where today you can obtain these billions of dollars in urgently needed funds. They are in banks waiting to with withdrawn.
That what the government of the Russian Federation has inflicted upon our citizens has resulted in even more suffering- outside of our borders, gives even more justification, and urgency, to use some of the US$340 billion in assets of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation that have been frozen to immediately provide reimbursement for and funding to those aid agencies in need of support.
The same is true for sourcing the funds for the reconstruction of Ukraine. Why should those funds be another in a series of burdens upon governments, upon taxpayers, when the funds are available? Particularly when their use for the purpose of reconstruction is justified, and just.
I believe everyone in this room will agree that when someone wrongs you, they should be held responsible.
May I provide an example: Uninvited, someone sets up camp on your front lawn. Then they take the backyard. Then they move into a bedroom, take the bathroom and kitchen. You ask them what they want to leave- the response: they want your home. Then, they do the same to your neighbor and their neighbor. Soon, they want the neighborhood, the village, town, city, province, and finally the entire country. And when you fight them, they will burn down your home and everyone else’s home- even though they said they initially wanted the home. The message: They don't want people to return.
There is only one responsible party to the commercial, economic, and political damage inflicted upon Ukraine since 24 February 2022. Only one. The government of the Russian Federation.
Countries may need to amend laws and regulations so the US$340 billion may shift from frozen as it is today to confiscated and then allocated to the following:
The reconstruction of Ukraine;
to reimburse those countries, particularly those which are our neighbors and have sacrificed so much for Ukraine;
for those countries which import agricultural commodities from Ukraine and had to pay more this year- so their already stressed budgets are even more so;
to reimburse those international financial institutions that have provided loans and grants to Ukraine- so that the funds replaced may then be directed to other countries in need of assistance;
to those countries which have provide military hardware to Ukraine so that we may defend ourselves.
I absolutely appreciate that freezing and then confiscating assets of a central bank on deposit in another country is troubling for many of you- as it is for me too.
When a country, in our circumstance, the Russian Federation, does to Ukraine what it has done for seven months, causing billions of dollars in damage, what recourse is there but to go after assets of the government of the Russian Federation- who ordered the attack upon Ukraine? Who is responsible for what they did? They are.
What has happened to Ukraine is unique- and hopefully, I pray, none of you will have to endure this nightmare. I have no illusions that the government of the Russian Federation would cease their actions and withdraw their armed forces if the US$340 billion was returned to them. In my view, they knew before they attacked Ukraine that if the funds were outside of the Russian Federation, they would be sacrificed. If not, why did they not retrieve the funds prior to attacking Ukraine? I believe they believed the funds would be returned to them.
Yes, they could invade Ukraine, destroy infrastructure; murder men, women, and children; rape women; leave children as orphans; cause a global food crisis; cause a global energy crisis; cause a global inflation crisis… and then get their money back. Yes, crazy. But what other logic is there?
Ukraine does not require a 21st Century “Marshall Plan” which in the 19th Century was funded primary by the United States and directed to countries on the European Continent who were victims of the Nazi Party’s wrath upon civilization.
Our infrastructure continues to be damaged and destroyed. The value of the damage is yet unknown, but we estimate the total could be US$100 billion to US$300 billion. Ukraine only seeks payment for what has been inflicted upon us. We are not seeking greater than we had in our country. Those future investments will be for us to determine and for us to fund.
According to a recent report from the Kyiv School of Economics Institute, the direct losses to the economy of Ukraine since 24 February 2022 is approximately US$113.5 billion. Images of the destruction and damage to the infrastructure of Ukraine have been collected with the assistance of unmanned aerial vehicles and satellites.
We are prepared to implement unprecedented for us levels of transparency for the distribution of any funds reconstructing Ukraine. We welcome the United Nations, international financial organizations, and non-governmental organizations to craft a process, a transparent process, with all data available in real time online.
Ukraine has the scourge of corruption within government and within the private sector. I have not yet done enough to target it, disrupt it, reduce it, and eliminate it. You have my word that I and my government will do better. Your support for Ukraine will not be an embarrassment.
We would also like to use some of the frozen funds of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation to make payments to citizens victimized by members of the armed forces of the Russian Federation. Women were raped. Men and women were executed. Children were murdered. Children were orphaned. They deserve compensation consistent with international norms.
I want to apologize to every one of the citizens in countries impacted by the attack upon Ukraine by the armed forces of the Russian federation. We are profoundly sorry your citizens have been forced to endure lack of food and energy and higher prices for that food and energy because of the hubris of one person who lives in Moscow.
Ukraine was the target of this attack, but others have suffered mightily.
To those countries who continue to engage commercially, economically, and politically with Russia, it is less problematic for me to ask than for you to disengage. I understand your commercial, economic, and political realities. I do not agree with some of these decisions, but as is Ukraine, countries are sovereign and have a right to decisions and the responsibility for those decisions. Voters will decide in most cases.
I do believe countries will become stronger because they are moving forward the implementation of energy decisions, food production decisions, supply chain decisions that we all know should be embraced, but have significant costs- and inconvenience to implement. An attack upon Ukraine was certainly not the pathway anyone would have contemplated as the catalyst for these changes.
In a few areas of Ukraine, football players have again entered the stadiums, certainly not all, but some. They are playing matches in empty stadiums so as not to provide another civilian target for the armed forces of the Russian Federation. In no way does this equate to normal, anything but normal. Our citizens need moments of normality- 90 minutes to reinforce that what we had can return- not easily, but it can return. A recent football match lasted more than 280 minutes due to air raid alerts.
In September, children throughout Ukraine should have been enjoying the first day of classes- in their schools, in their classrooms, with their teachers, with their friends learning, playing, exercising, competing. Today, this is not the reality. Approximately 200 schools are destroyed and approximately 2,300 schools are damaged. Courtesy of the armed forces of the Russian Federation. Using the Internet to educate should be an option, not a requirement.
Next year, I intend to address you again wearing a suit and tie- and with a cleanly-shaven face. That cleanly-shaven face will reflect a renewal, a clean slate- that the independence we obtained thirty-one years ago, the democracy we achieved, the battle for our territorial integrity we have endured since 2014, and freedoms many of our citizens died to protect, to preserve, will have been secured. We will have won.
Thank you, again, for listening to my message and for supporting us.... We will never forget your help. Never.
And when Ukraine is called upon to help a member of this body- whomever serves as president of Ukraine will answer that call- and will deliver assistance.
God Bless Ukraine.
LINK TO ORIGINAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE DRAFT
LINK TO UKRAINIAN LANGUAGE DRAFT
The Head of State of Ukraine is scheduled to deliver remarks on Wednesday, 21 September 2022, as the 11th speaker during the 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm hours.