Russia causing 'most destructive arms race in history', Zelenskyy tells UN

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed to global leaders to intervene to prevent Russia from leading the world through “the most destructive arms race in human history”, warning that the combination of drone technology and artificial intelligence would end in catastrophe.

- Patrick Wintour

Speaking to the UN general assembly, the Ukrainian president tried to galvanise not just the west but also China. His chilling account of how Russia is using technology to change the face of war was the opposite of Donald Trump’s claim that Russia’s military may only be a paper tiger.

He warned that Vladimir Putin, unchecked, would use drones to expand his war throughout Europe. “The facts are simple. Stopping this war now, and with it the global arms race, is cheaper than building underground kindergartens or massive bunkers for critical infrastructure later,” he told the UN. "Stopping Putin now is cheaper than trying to protect every port and every ship from terrorists.

Stopping Russia now is cheaper than wondering who will be forced to create a simple drone with a nuclear warhead." Ten years ago, he said, "war looked different and no one could have imagined that cheap drones could create death zones stretching for dozens of kilometres where nothing moves, no vehicles, no life. People used to imagine that only after a nuclear strike.