Zelenskyy vows Ukr will win as Russia redoubles effort

United Nations: Ukraine's president has implored the world to punish Russia for its invasion, even as the leader vowed his forces would win back every inch of territory despite Moscow's decision to redouble its war effort.

In a much-anticipated video address to the UN General Assembly hours after Russia on Wednesday announced it would mobilise some reservists, Volodymyr Zelenskyy portrayed the declaration as evidence the Kremlin wasn't ready to negotiate an end to the war but insisted his country would prevail anyway.

We can return the Ukrainian flag to our entire territory. We can do it with the force of arms, the president said. But we need time.

Putin's decree on Wednesday about the mobilisation was sparse on details. Officials said as many as 300,000 reservists could be tapped. It was apparently an effort to seize momentum after a Ukrainian counteroffensive this month retook swaths of territory that Russians had held.

But the first such call-up in Russia since World War II also brought the fighting home in a new way for Russians and risked fanning domestic anxiety and antipathy toward the war.

Shortly after Putin's announcement, flights out of the country rapidly filled up, and more than 1,000 people were arrested at rare antiwar demonstrations across the country.

A day earlier, Russian-controlled parts of eastern and southern Ukraine announced plans for referendums on becoming parts of Russia. Ukrainian leaders and their Western allies consider the votes illegitimate.

Zelenskyy didn't discuss the developments in detail. But he suggested that any Russian talk of negotiations was only a delaying tactic, and that Moscow's actions speak louder than its words. They talk about the talks but announce military mobilisation. They talk about the talks but announce pseudo-referendums in the occupied territories of Ukraine, he said.

Russia hasn't yet had its turn to speak at the gathering.

Zelenskyy's speech was striking not only for its contents but also its context.

It took place after the extraordinary mobilisation announcement.