Zelensky Addresses UN General Assembly, Urges Leaders To Sustain Sanctions on Russia As Trump Pushes For End To Energy Strikes
Golden Page News | – September 24, 2026
United Nations, New York – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday used the rostrum of the 81st United Nations General Assembly to deliver a blunt message to world leaders: keep choking Russia’s war revenues, or risk the war spreading beyond Ukraine.
Speaking during the annual high-level debate, Zelenskyy said the war “must be ended” and argued that Russian President Vladimir Putin remains its sole driving force.
“Our target is Russia’s ability to finance this war, to drag it out, to make it more brutal and more destructive,” Zelenskyy told the Assembly. “Russia’s finances and Russia’s production are what must be stopped if Putin is to be stopped”.
“Russia’s Revenues Must Remain A Target”
The Ukrainian leader urged leaders to sustain sanctions, restrict trade and cut off the cash Moscow uses to fuel its offensive, warning that every dollar from trade gives the war more time.
“When someone gives Russia more money through trade, they give this war more time,” he said.
“Russia’s revenues must remain a target,” Zelenskyy added, telling the Assembly that Ukraine understands this winter could be harsh, but Russia would feel it too if strikes continue.
On sanctions, Zelenskyy pointed to Russia’s budget deficit as now being “bigger than in any other year” – claiming that major Russian operations planned for the summer had failed.
He claimed nearly 249,000 Russian troops had been killed or seriously wounded during the first eight months of this year alone for minimal territorial gain.
“For almost five years now, Russian generals have been trying to carry out Putin’s crazy order to seize our eastern land, the Donetsk region,” he said. “It’s madness. But they still keep going”.
Zelenskyy also warned that the war’s impact is spreading beyond Ukraine, citing North Korean forces fighting alongside Russia and threats to Moldova, Poland, the Baltic States and beyond.
“A war that was not prevented in time, was not stopped in time, and for which Russia was not punished in time, keeps spreading and spreads evil with it,” he said.
He closed with a direct appeal: “Patient zero must be stopped. Limit his room to act, limit his money, limit his war.”
The Other Perspective: Trump’s Push For Energy Truce
On another perspective at UNGA, US President Donald Trump has shifted focus to halting the escalating air and drone war on energy infrastructure.
Trump met Zelenskyy for about 40 minutes on the UNGA sidelines on Tuesday, focusing on ways to end Russia’s full-scale invasion and protect civilian energy infrastructure before temperatures fall.
According to Zelenskyy, Ukraine is ready to halt strikes on Russia’s energy sector if Russia stops attacking Ukrainian energy facilities, heating systems, and water supply systems.
“We are ready for any format of an energy ceasefire,” Zelenskyy told reporters after the meeting.
“We are ready for energy ceasefire. If they don’t want us to attack their diesel and refineries, and etc, we are ready — if they will not attack our energy system, our electricity, heating system, water supplies,” he said.
Zelenskyy emphasized that the cessation must be mutual and cover the entire energy sector. He separately denied that Trump had asked Ukraine to unilaterally halt attacks, saying the conversation focused on how to achieve a mutual cessation while it remains impossible to fully end the war.
The proposal comes as Russia has launched thousands of missiles and tens of thousands of attack drones since the start of the year, including ballistic missiles and jet-powered Shahed drones, while Ukraine has hit Russian refineries hard enough to halt operations.
Trump had previously declared that Moscow and Kyiv had agreed to stop attacking each other’s energy infrastructure, though strikes resumed almost immediately. US officials have said Trump expressed concern over damage to Russian oil refineries targeted by Ukrainian drone attacks and has urged a moratorium.
French President Emmanuel Macron, after meeting Trump, said the two countries agreed to work together to secure a moratorium on strikes targeting energy networks and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said the US side will convey the energy truce proposal to Moscow, but Russia’s willingness remains unknown, and he has asked Trump for a winter air-defense package centered on Patriot missiles to defend cities ahead of winter.
As Secretary of State Marco Rubio was scheduled to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday in New York, diplomats said the competing messages at the UN leave a central question unresolved: whether the latest push can produce a ceasefire that both Ukraine and Russia will accept.
