Zelenskyy addresses UN in push to expand support for Ukraine

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• Geoff Bennett:

  With the war the topic of so many of the speeches today in New York, we turn now to Nick Schifrin, who's in Ukraine on assignment, and has spent much of the last week with Ukrainian forces.

  He joins us tonight from the southern city of Dnipro.

  Nick, what did you hear in President Zelenskyy's speech?

• Nick Schifrin:

  Geoff, he tried to paint the war in global terms.

  He warned that any kind of Russian victory could lead to even nuclear war, and many countries — quote — "having empty chairs at the U.N." Once again, he called Russia a terrorist state, accused of genocide, and specifically warned not to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin, using this zinger, a reference to former Wagner paramilitary group head Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a fiery plane crash in Moscow.

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy:

  Evil cannot be trusted. Ask Prigozhin if one bets on Putin's promises.

• Nick Schifrin:

  But the larger context of the speech is Zelenskyy's desire and need to expand Ukraine's support across the Global South.

  He met today with the heads of South Africa and Kenya. Many of these countries continue to provide economic or diplomatic support to Russia. And Zelenskyy knows that, in a long war — and this war does appear to be heading to a long war — he needs more support, specifically at the United Nations across the Global South than he currently has, especially if the world will hold Russia accountable and really prevent Russia from having the financial resources to continue to wage war.

• Geoff Bennett:

  So, Nick, what does that long war look like on the front where you have been?

• Nick Schifrin:

  It looks very, very difficult, Geoff.

  As you said, we have spent the last week in Southern Ukraine on the front line, specifically in what Ukraine calls its most critical front, an offensive south toward the city Melitopol, on the road to Crimea, to cut into Russian-occupied territory and threaten Russian supply lines.

  We have seen very able special forces units and drone units try and attack Russian positions that are currently being reinforced in that area. We have seen very able National Guard units fighting inch by inch, despite not having many resources.

  But we have also seen army brigades with shortages of ammunition, and army soldiers telling us repeatedly that there are shortages of weapons and ammunition up and down the front. And they describe incredibly, incredibly challenging circumstances, especially what are the largest minefields in the world, hundreds of miles of mines that Ukrainians are having to basically hand by hand try and explode, and that they tell us Russia is then remining after they have demined it from the air with small butterfly mines.

  And so success right now really is being measured in feet. Ukraine vows — and every soldier we talk to repeats this — that it will continue to fight until victory, and it defines that victory as reseizing Crimea.

  But Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley recently said that Ukraine only has about four to six weeks left of decent weather before it gets bogged down in the mud, literally, and can't make much progress.

  And given the political context that you just heard Laura report on in the United States, some doubts about support for Ukraine at the top of the Republican Party, Ukraine knows that it needs to make progress in this counteroffensive in the next few weeks if it's going to continue U.S. support, and, Geoff, get that critical Global South support that it needs for this long war.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Nick Schifrin reporting for us tonight from the southern Ukrainian city of Dnipro.

  Nick, thank you.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Thanks, Geoff.