Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called Vladimir Putin the "patient zero" of war and warned Russia it will also suffer this winter if it keeps hitting Ukraine's heating and power.

Zelenskiy spoke in English for about 25 minutes at the UN General Assembly in New York on September 23. Facing a brutal winter as Russia’s onslaught intensifies, he is in New York to win more air defence money and missiles, as Ukraine's interceptor stocks run low, Russia steps up strikes on its grid and Kyiv faces a 2027 funding gap of at least $32bn.

He told the Assembly that Russia is paying an ever higher price for ever smaller gains, and that Ukraine can now hurt Russia's economy as much as Russia hurts Ukraine's as the missile war escalates. While in New York he met with US President Donald Trump on September 22 who asked Ukraine to stop hitting Russian refineries if Moscow stops hitting Ukraine's grid - an offer the Kremlin has already dismissed as rhetoric.

"He is Patient Zero, the one from whom this idea of war keeps spreading further. And wherever it spreads, it brings only pain, instability, new risks and, of course, new crises. The more freedom Putin has to act, the more dangerous the world becomes for everyone else. That is why Patient Zero must be stopped," Zelenskiy said.

Russia lost 248,964 soldiers killed and badly wounded in the eight months from January to August, and captured just over 1,000 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory, much of which Ukraine has since retaken, he said. "To add another 1,000 square kilometres, Putin is paying with 248 lives for every square kilometre," he said. The figures cannot be independently verified, but the losses are showing up at home, where coffin prices have doubled.

Putin had once again promised Trump's representatives that he would take the rest of Donetsk region within a few months, Zelenskiy said. "This is probably the 17th or 18th time in five years that he has made this promise. It is always the same: just a few more months," he said, adding that Putin also wants Odesa, Kharkiv and Dnipro.

General Winter changes sides

Zelenskiy defended Ukraine's long-range drone campaign against Russian oil plants, which has knocked out a large share of Russia's refining capacity and which Putin says has opened a Pandora's box. "Oil itself is not Ukraine's target. It is not our target. Not gasoline or diesel themselves. Not factories or ports themselves. Our target is Russia's ability to finance this war, to prolong it and to make it more brutal and more destructive," he said. "So Russia's revenues must remain a target.”

The Trump administration has become increasingly alarmed at the soaring price of diesel fuel which has risen to all-time highs ahead of key midterm elections in November and is more focused on bring the price down before the vote than it is in aiding Ukraine in its conflict with Russia.

But Bankova’s plan seems to be working, to a limited extent. Russia's budget deficit is currently bigger than in any previous year, most Russian regions are bankrupt and every major Russian offensive this summer failed, Zelenskiy said. Russia's federal deficit reached 2.5% of GDP in the first eight months, and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has admitted the full-year figure will at least double the original target.

"No Russian official ever imagined that 'General Winter,' which for centuries fought on Russia's side, would one day switch sides and support those defending themselves from Russia. We will make that happen this winter if Russia continues to target our energy system and our heating," Zelenskiy said. When Russia started the war, it never imagined Ukrainian long-range drones would one day reach its military factories "somewhere in Siberia", he added.

Moscow is again trying to freeze Ukraine into submission by knocking out power and heating before the cold sets in. "Ukrainians understand that this winter could be very harsh for us. But in response, we will have no choice but to make it painful for Russia too. That is exactly why we say that de-escalation steps are important and are needed before winter," Zelenskiy said.

AI and foreign fighters

The expanding drones arms race was also a key focus. Zelenskiy urged world leaders to slow the development of weapons driven by artificial intelligence. "We need to slow it down before we reach the next stage because as early as next year there is a real possibility that AI, not only people, will begin to decide what happens on the battlefield, and we need peace before we reach that point," he said.

Russia is using citizens of 47 countries in its war, including Ghana, Nepal, Tajikistan, India, Yemen, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Belarus, Sudan and South Africa, Zelenskiy said, and Ukraine recently sent two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea, Ukrainska Pravda reported. Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops and workers to Russia.

"One of them, when he realised he was going to be taken prisoner, tried to kill himself, and he was shocked that fate didn't let him die," Zelenskiy said. "I want to speak directly to every representative of these 47 countries. You know what Russia is doing with your people. It's your citizens. Take care of them and do not let them end up on another front.”

Starlink and Patriots

Behind closed doors Zelenskiy raised with Trump the possibility of using Starlink satellite terminals for strikes on targets inside Russia, a senior Ukrainian official told Newsmax correspondent Nana Sajaia. Trump replied: "You have to talk to Elon about it.”

Licensed production of Patriot missiles in Ukraine was also discussed, though the official called it a long-term issue and described the meeting as "very positive". Initially earlier this year, Trump offered to give Ukraine a Patriot missile production license, but has since backtracked on that idea due to the objections of US defence sector companies that are not happy with the idea of giving away their valuable know-how.

Fifty-one signatures

Fifty countries and the EU signed a joint statement backing Ukraine as the UN Security Council met on September 23, calling on Russia to accept the unconditional ceasefire Ukraine agreed to in March 2025, return deported civilians and children, and stop attacking shipping in the Black Sea, the Kyiv Independent reported. The signatories include most European countries plus Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Israel and New Zealand. The United States, which is mediating between Kyiv and Moscow, did not sign, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

"Russia is trying to choke off Ukrainian grain exports, thus jeopardizing global food security. We therefore support efforts towards an arrangement in the Black Sea to safeguard freedom of navigation," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said. "Ukraine wants peace. We want peace. Russia must stop its aggression, accept a ceasefire," she wrote on X.

Moscow says no

Moscow's answer came at the same Security Council session. "Having learned from bitter experience, we will not pause the special military operation for the duration of negotiations in any format," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, TASS reported. "Although this is precisely what Europe wants, all with the same simple goal: to gain a respite and replenish the depleted military arsenals of the Kiev regime," he added.

Lavrov argued Ukraine would have kept its 1991 borders had European countries not interfered, Kyiv Post reported. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski replied after Lavrov had left the chamber: "Sergei, I know you are listening. Tell your boss that enough is enough.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on September 23 there were still no prerequisites for moving talks onto a peace track, Ukrinform reported. He repeated that Zelenskiy would have to come to Moscow if he wanted to meet Putin. "All the necessary security guarantees will be provided to him. He knows perfectly well what decisions need to be made," Peskov said, adding that a summit held before experts had finished their work would be "a waste of time".

Peskov said earlier in September that Russia expects a three-way meeting with Ukraine and the US "in the near term", probably in October.