Zelensky Outlines Path to Peace in Impassioned G20 Speech

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has listed a series of measures required for an end to the war in his country in a speech to the G20 summit.

Speaking virtually to world leaders gathered in Bali, Indonesia, Zelensky said that Russia must agree to the territorial integrity of Ukraine, withdraw its troops from his country and pay compensation for damage caused by President Vladimir Putin's invasion.

He said there should be an extension of the Black Sea Grain initiative, which allows the safe passage of ships carrying food, "to help the poorest countries." The deal should include ports in the Mykolaiv region, Zelensky said, pointedly referring to "G-19 leaders", which is the group minus Russia.

The agreement, struck in July and guaranteed by the United Nations and Turkey, allows the export of grain from certain Black Sea ports which Kyiv said Russia had blockaded. The agreement, essential to averting the prospect of global food shortages, is set to expire on November 19.

Zelensky also called for the immediate withdrawal of all Russian "militants" from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant whose control should be transferred to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Kyiv and its allies have expressed alarm about fighting close to Europe's biggest nuclear power plant. "No one has the right to blackmail the world with a radioactive disaster," Zelensky said, as he described the need for IAEA missions to be sent to all four Ukrainian nuclear plants, plus the Chernobyl plant, which has been shut down.

Zelensky called for the return of military personnel and civilians who were in Russian captivity, including 11,000 children who he said had been forcibly deported to Russia.

"When all anti-war measures are implemented, a document confirming the end of the war should be signed by the parties," Zelensky said.

"To liberate our entire land" from Russian forces, he said "we still will have to fight for a while longer," as he called for this "aggressive Russian war to end justly and on the basis of the U.N. Charter and international law."

Ukraine should not be asked to make "compromises with its conscience, sovereignty, territory and independence," he said.

The Ukrainian president also addressed the barrage of Russian attacks that have targeted civilian and energy infrastructure as part of Moscow's "attempt to turn the cold into a weapon."

There were scenes of jubilation last week in Kherson after Putin's troops retreated from the west bank of the Dnieper River near the southern capital of the region with the same name.

Despite the celebrations, Kyiv had expressed concerns that Russia might use the G20 summit to carry out provocations, including missile strikes. Zelensky said Russia had so far destroyed 40 percent of Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

An adviser to the Ukrainian internal affairs ministry, Anton Gerashchenko, told Newsweek on Sunday, "taking back Kherson is a huge moral defeat for Russia and a large moral boost for Ukrainians. Russians are starting to question their leadership and the reasons for the war in general."

"Ukrainian victory is imminent, and no amount of attacks can change that. Russians cannot win on the battlefield so they resort to striking civilians and destroying Ukrainian energy infrastructure."

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.

Update 11/15/22, 4:25 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with further information.