At UN, Zelensky calls Putin 'patient zero', slamming Russian attacks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used his speech at the United Nations General Assembly to denounce Russia's attack against his country and called Russian President Vladimir Putin "patient zero".

VOLODYMR ZELENSKYY: "Putin is always looking for someone who can help him kill more, kill more people for every kilometre of land, take more territory, and take another country instead of simply stopping and running his own country. After all of this, can you even imagine him without war? He's 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 crisis. The more freedom Putin has to act, the more dangerous the world becomes for everyone else. That is why patient zero must be stopped. He must be denied the space to act and the space to spread this evil further."

At a UN Security Council meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow is ready for peace talks with Kyiv, but "will not pause the special military operation during negotiations."

Lavrov accuses European countries of seeking a pause in fighting to allow Ukraine to replenish its military supplies.

Also in New York, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said both Russia and Ukraine are interested in a limited ceasefire that would halt attacks on grain shipments and energy sectors.