Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has raised an alarm at the ongoing United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), declaring the world is witnessing an AI-drone war allegedly fueled by Russia.
Zelenskyy during his address at the UNGA on Wednesday described the ongoing development as “the most destructive arms race in human history”
He also appealed for global intervention to halt Moscow’s aggression before autonomous weapons spiral into catastrophe.
In his passionate address during the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, Zelenskyy painted a grim picture of the future, emphasizing that Ukraine’s battlefield innovations are accelerating a dangerous global shift.
According to him, the AI-Drone war has already forced his administration to innovate new policies, which include building underground schools and hospitals to shield civilians from aerial threats.
He stated: “So don’t stay silent while Russia keeps dragging this war on.
“Please speak out and condemn it. Please join us in defending life and international law and order. People are waiting for action.
“The facts are simple. Stopping this war now, and with it the global arms race, is cheaper than building underground kindergartens or massive bunkers for critical infrastructure later.
“Stopping Putin now is cheaper than trying to protect every port and every ship from terrorists. Stopping Russia now is cheaper than wondering who will be forced to create a simple drone with a nuclear warhead.”
Ten years ago, he said, “war looked different and no one could have imagined that cheap drones could create death zones stretching for dozens of kilometres where nothing moves, no vehicles, no life. People used to imagine that only after a nuclear strike. Now it is drone reality, and without AI yet.”
Referring to the recent wave of Russian disruption across Europe, including a drone incursion into Poland, he said: “Putin was intent on driving the war forward, wider and deeper … to continue this war by expanding it.”
He said he warned Europe before about Russia’s intentions “and now Russian drones are flying across Europe”. No one could be immune from the spread of war, he said, adding: “We are living through the most destructive arms race in human history.”
Zelensky also warned that Ukraine would not only face the brunt of the AI-Drone war, saying that Russia will “keep driving the war forward, wider and deeper”.
“Ukraine is only the first. Russian drones are already flying across Europe.
“There are tens of thousands of people who know how to kill professionally using drones.
“Stopping that kind of attack is harder than stopping any gun, knife, or bomb.
“We are now living through the most destructive arms race in human history,” he said.
Zelensky added that the threat would grow due to the rise of artificial intelligence, and called for legislation to govern the technology. “A few years from now may be too late,” he told delegates.
Zelenskyy also warned that Europe could not afford to lose neighbouring Moldova to Russian influence. The country’s prime minister, Dorin Recean, on Wednesday claimed Russia was spending hundreds of millions of euros to “take power” in a pivotal parliamentary election that could derail Moldova’s course toward the European Union.
Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports that Zelenskyy’s speech came a fay after United States President Donald Trump had lamented that the war in Ukraine was still ongoing.
He disclosed that he originally believed that the Russian vs Ukraine “would be the easiest” war to end. He had claimed on the campaign trail that he could end the war in one day.
Trump stated during his address at the 80th UNGA: “Everyone thought Russia would win this war in three days, but it didn’t work out that way. It was supposed to be just a quick little skirmish. It’s not making Russia look good.”
He continued, saying that Russia’s initial attack “was something that should have taken a matter of days, certainly less than a week, and they’ve been fighting for three and a half years.”
