2023-09-19 15:10:20
Unprecedented scene in New York for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: he was Monday evening in a city hospital at the bedside of soldiers from his army who were seriously injured but whom he encouraged to return quickly to Ukraine to defeat Russia.
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This exceptional visit, before going to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, had been kept secret: in the Staten Island University Hospital, the smallest district of the megacity, Mr. Zelensky, under very high security American law enforcement, spent a few minutes in detention with some of his men who had amputated legs or arms and were severely disabled.
In a large rehabilitation room equipped with numerous medical and sports equipment, the Ukrainian president watched with empathy as some of his uniformed soldiers practiced walking once more, standing, repeating simple movements or lifting loads, with their new leg or arm prostheses.
“How are you doing? It’s hard?” the Ukrainian president asks one of his men, dressed in his khaki-colored sweatshirt and pants.
“It’s okay,” simply replies the seriously injured young soldier, originally from Zaporizhia. “Stay strong!”, Mr. Zelensky tells him by way of comfort and encouragement.
He then addresses the small group of Ukrainians being treated in this American establishment, under the gaze of his medical staff and officials from the country at war: “We are grateful to you and are proud of you,” he tells them. in Ukrainian.
Nine Ukrainian patients are currently being treated and 35 have been treated in total since last October, according to executives from Staten Island University Hospital and the Ukrainian-American NGO “Kind Deeds” who put together this program to supply prosthetics to amputee soldiers.
During a short speech in English, Mr. Zelensky expressed his “thanks to the American doctors” and expressed the gratitude of “our entire country”.
Then, he gave each of the soldiers, one of whom was visibly very weakened in a wheelchair, a decoration, before having his photo taken and filmed with the group of wounded and their caregivers.
Speaking to his men, American medical personnel and a few journalists, the Ukrainian head of state stressed that he had “never seen people who wanted so much to return home”.
“We are waiting for you all to return home, we absolutely need each of you, each solid Ukrainian fighter to defeat our enemy,” he insisted, saying he was “convinced” that victory over the Russian armed forces were “obviously coming”.
“I wish you victory and return home. Glory to Ukraine!” said Volodymyr Zelensky, to which the soldiers responded as one: “Glory to the heroes!”
The President of Ukraine will take the podium at the UN for the first time on Tuesday.
A year ago, he was exceptionally authorized to intervene via a video message. This time, he will be there in person, for the high-level session of the annual United Nations General Assembly and a special meeting of the Security Council on Wednesday, before leaving for Washington where he will be received at the White House on Thursday.
Asked by journalists regarding the meaning of this presence at the UN, Mr. Zelensky replied: “For us, it is very important that our words, all our messages, are heard by our partners.”
But “if in the United Nations, and it is a shame, there remains a place for Russian terrorists, then the question should not be addressed to me, but I think it should be asked to all members of the United Nations” , he concluded, while Russia is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council.
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