Speaking to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of "weaponizing" everything from food security to energy and even children in its invasion, and warned the gathered world leaders that the same fate could befall them.

“When hatred is weaponized against one nation, it never stops there," the Ukrainian leader said. “The goal of the present war against Ukraine is to turn our land, our people, our lives, our resources into weapons against you — against the international rules-based order.”

Zelenskyy charged Russia with the "mass kidnapping" and deportation of "tens of thousands of children" from Ukraine's occupied territories.

"We are trying to get children back home, but time, time goes by," he said. "What will happen with them? What will happen to them? Those children in Russia are taught to hate Ukraine and all ties with their families are broken.

"This is clearly a genocide," he continued. "When hatred is weaponized against one nation, it never stops there."

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant in March for Russian President Vladimir Putin and another official, accusing them of abducting children from Ukraine. Russian officials have denied any forced transfers of children, saying some Ukrainian children are in foster care.

"Each decade Russia starts a new war. Parts of Moldova and Georgia remain occupied. Russia turned Syria into ruins. And if not Russia, the chemical weapons would have never been used there in Syria. Russia has almost swallowed Belarus. It is obviously threatening Kazakhstan and the Baltic states.

"The goal of the present war against Ukraine is to turn our lands, our people, our lives, our resources into a weapon against you -- against the international rules-based order," he continued. "Many seats in the General Assembly hall may become empty, empty if Russia succeeds with its treachery."

Zelenskyy also made reference to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the one-time Putin ally and mercenary leader who was killed in a recent plane crash after leading a short-lived uprising against Russia's military.

"Evil cannot be trusted," Zelenskyy said. "Ask Prigozhin if one bets on Putin’s promises."

"Please hear me: Let unity decide everything openly," Zelenskyy implored. "While Russia is pushing the world to the final war, Ukraine is doing everything possible to ensure that after Russian aggression, no one in the world would dare attack any nation. Weaponization must be restrained. War crimes must be punished. Deported people must come back home. And the occupier must return to their own land. We must be united to make it, and we'll do it. Slava Ukraini."

Zelenskyy spoke hours after President Joe Biden delivered his own forceful defense of Ukraine, urging other nations to "stand up to this naked aggression today and deter other would-be aggressors tomorrow." As he pledged support to Ukraine, there was a round of applause, and the U.N. cameras showed Zelenskyy, sitting in Ukraine’s seat in the General Assembly, clapping his hands.

Zelenskyy took to the world stage at a sensitive point in his country’s campaign to maintain international support for its fight. Nearly 19 months after Moscow launched a full-scale invasion, Ukrainian forces are three months into a counteroffensive that has not gone as fast or as well as initially hoped.

Russia insists its war is justified, claiming that it is defending Russian speakers in Ukraine from a hostile government and Russian interests against NATO encroachment. Russia gets its chance to address the General Assembly on Saturday, when Foreign Minister Minister Sergey Lavrov is expected on the rostrum. Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyansky sat in Russia’s seat during Zelenskyy’s speech.

The war has raged longer and losses have been greater than Russia hoped, and the fighting has spurred widespread international condemnation and sanctions against Moscow.

But the Kremlin also has influential friends that haven’t joined the chorus of censure: China and India, for instance, have staked out neutral positions. So have many Middle Eastern and African nations. Many Latin American and Caribbean countries prefer to focus world attention on other global issues, including climate change and conflict in Africa.

Moscow is keen to display its global influence and its relationship with China and insists that it cannot be internationally isolated by the U.S. and its European allies.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is concerned that backing from its allies may be ebbing. They have supplied billions of dollars’ worth of arms but fear that their stockpiles are shrinking and that defense contractors are struggling to boost production lines.

Hours before Zelenskyy spoke at the U.N., allied defense leaders convened at a U.S. military base in Germany to discuss next steps.

Some nations pledged further money and weapons. But a key sticking point is whether to supply longer-range missiles that Kyiv insists it needs in order to hit Russian troops and facilities from a safe distance — as far as about 180 miles away. The U.S. is wary of the request, worried that Ukraine could use such weapons to strike deep into Russian territory and provoke Moscow.

Congress is currently weighing Biden’s request to provide as much as $24 billion more in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, amid a growing partisan divide over spending on the conflict. Zelenskyy is scheduled to spend time Thursday on Capitol Hill and to meet with Biden at the White House.

After landing Monday in New York, Zelenskyy suggested that the U.N. needs to answer for allowing his country's invader a seat at the tables of power.

"For us, it’s very important that all our words, all our messages, will be heard by our partners. And if in the United Nations still — it’s a pity, but still — there is a place for Russian terrorists, the question is not to me. I think it’s a question to all the members of the United Nations,” Zelenskyy said after visiting wounded Ukrainian service members at Staten Island University Hospital.

Russia is a permanent, veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council, which is entrusted with maintaining international peace and security.

Zelenskyy has taken the United Nations to task before. In one memorable example, he lamented at the General Assembly in 2021 that the U.N. was ”a retired superhero who's long forgotten how great they once were."

A former comedian and actor who took office in 2019, Zelenskyy later became a wartime leader, wearing military fatigues, rallying citizens at home and appearing virtually and in person before numerous international bodies.

During his time at the Staten Island hospital, he awarded medals to military members who had lost limbs. With help from a New Jersey-based charity called Kind Deeds, 18 troops have been fitted for prostheses and are undergoing outpatient physical therapy at the hospital, according to its leaders.

“We all will be waiting for you back home,” Zelenskyy told those he met. “We absolutely need every one of you.”