ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Ukraine's president had an unusual pitch at the United Nations General Assembly today. He said the U.N. has failed to resolve Russia's war against his country. So, Volodymyr Zelenskyy says, Ukraine has had to rely on its friends and its own weapons. And he said Ukrainian drones have been so successful against Russia that he's ready to start exporting them to like-minded nations, as NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Speaking to the General Assembly for the fourth time as a wartime president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he's learned one big lesson about the world body.
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PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: Today, no one but ourselves can guarantee security. Only strong alliances, only strong partners and only our own weapons.
KELEMEN: He told the U.N. General Assembly that Russia's war has sparked an arms race, and he touted the drones Ukraine has been building to defend itself from Russia's stockpile of missiles and Iranian-made drones.
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ZELENSKYY: Ukraine doesn't have the big, fat missiles dictators love to show off in parades. But we do have drones that can fly up to two, three thousand kilometers. We had no choice but to build them to protect our right to life.
KELEMEN: Zelenskyy spoke a lot about Ukrainian drones, telling countries around the world that they should do business with Ukraine rather than Russia.
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ZELENSKYY: We are ready to make our modern weapons become your modern security, your modern weapon. And we have decided to open up arms exports. And these are powerful systems tested in a real war when every international institution failed.
KELEMEN: The sales pitch seemed to have worked on President Trump, who met with Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Trump now seems to think that Ukraine can retake territory now occupied by Russia. And he had this to say at one of his many photo ops on Tuesday.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It's been a terrible war. It should have ended. And Russia should have stopped it. But they've been 3 1/2 years and they've gotten not so far. So we'll see what happens. But the other side can fight too, and they've proven that. Maybe it's a - it could be that Russia is a paper tiger.
KELEMEN: Trump said he thought it would be easy to end the war because of his close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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TRUMP: But unfortunately, that relationship didn't mean anything, unfortunately.
KELEMEN: Ever since he hosted Putin in Alaska last month, the Russians have stepped up their strikes on Ukrainian cities and towns and even violated NATO airspace with drones and fighter jets. European diplomats at the U.N. have been pressing Trump to put more pressure on Putin. Russian diplomats have called the Europeans paranoid Russophobes. Putin did not come to the U.N., so there are few expectations of any real negotiations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio did meet his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, though they did not speak to reporters. Zelenskyy's pitch was mostly about rallying the world to turn against Russia.
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ZELENSKYY: Whether you help peace or continue trading with Russia and helping Russia to fund this war, it depends on you.
KELEMEN: And he urged countries not to stay silent. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the United Nations. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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