Zelensky says "patient zero" Putin poses danger to the world (quote from CNN)

 

Watch

---

Live Updates

Iran’s president says ‘we will never bow our head’ to Trump in defiant UN speech

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a warning about Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez will speak later.

Updated 3:24 PM EDT, Wed September 23, 2026

Zelensky: Russia's oil industry "running on fumes"

0:53

Here's the latest

• Iran president speaks: In his UNGA address, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran will not bend to US President Donald Trump and asserted Iranians have been “the victims of terrorism.” A US delegate in the room walked out.

• No breakthrough: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that US-Iran mediated talks on the sidelines of UNGA did not yield any major breakthrough, indicating the memorandum of understanding from earlier this year was no longer in the cards.

• Zelensky delivers remarks: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Vladimir Putin “patient zero,” saying the Russian leader spreads war and instability. As he spoke, Zelensky’s party headquarters were struck by Russia, according to Kyiv officials.

• Eyes on Venezuela: Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez will address UNGA more than eight months after the US captured her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, who is currently being held in a Brooklyn detention center. Trump met with her last night as Washington maintains political pressure on Venezuela to enact reforms.

43 Posts

48 min ago

Zelensky says "patient zero" Putin poses danger to the world

By Billy Stockwell

Zelensky: Russia's oil industry "running on fumes"

0:53

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin “patient zero,” saying the more freedom he has to act, “the more dangerous the world becomes for everyone else.”

Speaking about the Russian leader at today’s UN General Assembly, Zelensky asked, “Can you even imagine him without war? He is patient zero, the one from whom this idea of war keeps spreading further. And wherever it spreads, it brings only pain, instability, new risks, and of course, new crises.”

The Ukrainian leader said Putin must be denied the space to act and “spread this evil further.”

“For the first time in Russia’s history, we now hear that its pride, its oil industry, is running out of fumes,” Zelensky said. “Our target is Russia’s ability to finance this war, to drag it out, to make it more brutal and more destructive. Russia’s finances and Russia’s production are what must be stopped if Putin is to be stopped.”

As well as attempting to seize Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Putin “wants” more of the country’s cities too, at the same time as threatening European nations, Zelensky said. “Russia has claims against our neighbor Moldova. It constantly threatens Poland and the Baltic states,” he said.