Russia will widen the assault beyond Ukraine unless it is arrested, warns Zelensky

Vladimir Putin “will continue to conduct the wider and deeper war” if he is not arrested, the president of Ukraine, Zelensky, warned.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York, Zelensky said that more countries have hosted Russian assault unless allies have a united front and accelerate support.

He said all nations were threatened by a global arms race as military technology is growing, adding that “weapons decide that survive” and called for global AI rules.

His comments arise after US President Donald Trump moved his position on the Russian-Ukraine war, claiming for the first time that Ukraine could reconquer all of his land.

Zelensky has criticized international institutions, suggesting that they are “too weak” to offer Ukrainian security guarantees, adding – with an apparent reference to NATO – what to be part of a long -standing military alliance “does not automatically mean that you are safe”.

“We are now living through the most destructive arms race in human history,” he said.

He argued that “stopping Russia now” was cheaper than “wondering who will be the first to create a simple drone with a nuclear warhead”.

The Ukrainian leader also warned that Europe could not afford to lose Moldova – which is between Ukraine and Romania by EU – Russian influence. He said that the West had missed a chance to save Georgia and the Bélarus from Putin orbit.

On Thursday, the pro-EU president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, accused the Kremlin of “paying hundreds of millions of euros” in Moldova to try to cause violence and spread fear.

Voters of the former Soviet Republic go to the polls on Sunday, in the midst of what a BBC survey turned out to be a disinformation dam spread by a network with links with Moscow.

Last week, Estonia and Poland asked for a consultation with other NATO members after Russia violated its airspace in distinct incidents. Romania, another member of NATO, also said that Russian drones had violated its airspace.

Earlier Tuesday, following his speech to the UN, Trump said that NATO nations should shoot Russian planes that crossed their airspace, following recent incursions by Russian hunting jets and drones.

Zelensky congratulated Donald Trump and said he had a “good meeting” with the American president.

On Tuesday, he told journalists that he understood that the United States was ready to offer Ukrainian security guarantees after the end of the war.

Pressed to what it would look like, he said that he had no specific details but addressed the possibility of more weapons, aerial defenses and drones.

Trump’s suggestion on Tuesday, according to which kyiv could win, with the support of the EU and NATO, marked a U-shaped U-turn after which Ukraine should accept “land exchanges” as a condition of peace.

The American president also described Russia as a “paper tiger” which had “fought out of Ukraine”.

Kremlin spokesperson Dimitry Peskov replied: “Russia is by no means a tiger. It is more associated with a bear. And there are no paper bear.”

Peskov told journalists that the American president had made the comments “apparently under the influence of the vision advanced by Zelensky”.

“This vision contrasts absolutely with our understanding of the current state.”