Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia's goal in the war is "to turn our land, our people, our lives, our resources into a weapon against you – against the international rules-based order."

"When hatred is weaponized against one nation, it never stops there. Each decade Russia starts a new war. Parts of Moldova and Georgia remain occupied. Russia turned Syria into ruins. And if it hadn't been for Russia, the chemical weapons would have never been used there in Syria. Russia has almost swallowed Belarus. It is obviously threatening Kazakhstan and the Baltic states… And the goal of the present war against Ukraine is to turn our land, our people, our lives, our resources into a weapon against you – against the international rules-based order," the president said, speaking at a session of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

"Many seats in the General Assembly Hall may become empty if Russia succeeds with its treachery and aggression," he said.

According to Zelenskyy, "the aggressor scatters death and brings ruins even without nukes but the outcomes are alike. We see towns and villages in Ukraine wiped out by Russian artillery. Leveled to the ground completely! We see the war of drones. We know the possible effects of spreading the war into cyberspace."

"We cannot allow any aggressor to claim our unity," the Ukrainian president said.