UNITED NATIONS — President Volodymyr Zelensky has ordered Ukraine's entire delegation to the United Nations General Assembly to walk from Kyiv to New York, arriving at the podium only after completing a 7,500-kilometer march that aides described as «the minimum acceptable demonstration of diplomatic stamina.»
The delegation departed the presidential administration building at dawn, carrying the national flag and a single rucksack containing the speech. Foreign Ministry officials confirmed that all ambassadors, deputies and press officers are required to complete the full route, with rest stops limited to forty minutes per day and no motorized transport permitted under any circumstances.
«We are not asking our partners for more pressure on Russia,» Zelensky said in a statement released from the first checkpoint outside Kyiv. «We are demonstrating what pressure looks like when it is applied by legs. Every kilometer is a sanction.»
By the second week, the march had grown to include the entire Ukrainian diplomatic corps, which abandoned its embassies and consulates to join the column. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs now operates from a moving tent that advances eleven kilometers per day, and all visa applications must be submitted in person at the tent's current location.
U.N. security officials have been forced to widen the General Assembly entrance to accommodate the delegation's arrival formation, and a special session has been scheduled to begin only after the last marcher crosses the Brooklyn Bridge. Iran's president, scheduled to speak earlier, has reportedly requested a similar walking route for his own delegation, though from Tehran.