Addressing the 79th UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said he had received intelligence reports that Vladimir Putin “seems to be planning attacks on our nuclear power plants and infrastructure, aiming to disconnect the plants from the power grid.”

He added that Putin was using the satellite technology of other countries to receive detailed images and information about Ukraine’s nuclear facilities.

Zelenskyy warned that “any missile or drone strike” could result in a nuclear disaster and that the resultant radiation “will not respect state borders.”

He pointed out that Russian forces have a track record of cavalier attitudes to nuclear safety and that receiving reports in 2022 of Russian tanks firing directly at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was one of the "most horrifying moments of the war.”

“The Russian army stormed this facility just as brutally as any other during this war,” he said, adding that they showed no regard for the possibly disastrous consequences.

“Everyone in Ukraine was reminded of what Chernobyl means,” Zelenskyy continued, highlighting that Zaporizhzhia remains under Russian occupation and is “at risk of a nuclear incident.”

He said this is the main source of radiation danger in Europe, if not globally, and is why the first point in his peace formula concerns nuclear safety.

“In Ukraine we know exactly what we are dealing with,” he said, going on to argue that real nuclear security would return to Europe and the world only when Zaporizhzhia is returned to Ukrainian control.

Weaponizing winter

The Ukrainian president said that because Russian forces could not defeat Ukraine on the battlefield, Putin is looking for other ways to break the Ukrainian spirit.

One tactic, he said, is to attack its power grid. He said Russia had so far destroyed all Ukraine’s thermal power plants and a large part of its hydro-electric capacity with a total of 80% of the national system destroyed.

“This is how Putin is preparing for winter,” he said. “Hoping to torment millions and millions of Ukrainians, ordinary families. Putin wants to leave them in the dark and cold this winter, forcing Ukraine to suffer and surrender.”

He said that two years ago he proposed a peace formula, and that the onus is on the UN to put pressure on Moscow to allow the plan to be implemented.

“Ukraine wants to end this war more than anyone in the world,” Zelenskyy said.

But, he cautioned, “there can be no just peace without Ukraine.”