NEW YORK — Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday exhorted the United Nations to remember his country’s grueling war against Russia’s invasion, addressing the General Assembly as much of the world’s attention has turned to the intensifying conflict in the Middle East.

Seeking to rally support after more than two years of war, Zelenskyy cast Russia as a threat to nations far beyond Ukraine. Despite its size, he said, Russia “still wants even more land — more land, which is insane, and is seizing it day by day while wanting to destroy its neighbor.”

Every neighboring country in Europe and Central Asia, he said, “feels that the war could come for them as well,” he said.

Zelenskyy stressed the dangers of a nuclear disaster posed by the war, noting that Russian troops still occupied one of Ukraine’s plants and warning that such a catastrophe would “not respect state borders.”

But he also argued that Ukraine was the bulwark against aggression from Russia.

“It is the Ukrainian people who feel the full pain of this war,” he said. “It is Ukrainian children who are learning to distinguish the signs of different types of artillery and drones because of Russia’s war.”

And although Zelenskyy asked for support “from all nations” to help end the war, he highlighted two countries — North Korea and Iran — that have grown closer to the Kremlin.

“A telling choice of friends,” Zelenskyy said.

Russia hasn’t yet had its turn to speak at the assembly’s annual gathering of presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and other high officials. Low-level Russian diplomats occupied the country’s seats in the huge assembly hall during Zelenskyy’s speech.

President Vladimir Putin is not attending this year’s high-level meetings at the General Assembly. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is expected to give the nation’s address instead, on Saturday.

In Moscow on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov lambasted remarks that Zelenskyy made the day before, when the Ukrainian president told the U.N. Security Council that Russia needs to “be forced into peace.”

Peskov called that position “a fatal mistake” and “a profound misconception, which, of course, will inevitably have consequences for the Kyiv regime.”

The war in Ukraine was center stage the last two times that world leaders convened for the U.N.’s signature annual meeting. But this year, the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and the escalating developments along the Israel-Lebanon border have gotten much of the spotlight.

Ukraine and Russia, with one of the world’s most potent armies, are locked in a grinding fight along a 600-mile front line.

The war began when Russia invaded in February 2022.

During the fighting, Russia has gained momentum in Ukraine’s east.

Ukraine, meanwhile, startled Russia by sending troops across the border in a daring incursion last month.

Zelenskyy is expected to present a victory plan this week to President Joe Biden. While the plan hasn’t been released, it’s aimed at laying out what Ukraine believes it needs — fast — from Western allies to win.

While Western slowness to act has amplified Ukraine’s losses, some Ukrainian officials, diplomats and analysts fear Kyiv’s aim to have the plan implemented before the next U.S. president moves into the White House in January may be out of reach.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., reportedly was briefed on the plan and said it “can work” — but many privately question how.

The specifics of Zelenskyy’s blueprint have been kept under wraps until it can be formally presented to Biden, but contours of the plan have emerged, including the need for fast action on decisions Western allies have been mulling since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.

It includes the security guarantee of NATO membership, according to Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andrii Yermak — a principal demand of Kyiv and Moscow’s key point of contention.

Western allies, including the U.S., have been skeptical about this option.

Zelenskyy has said he will also seek permission to use long-range weapons to strike deep inside Russian territory, another red line for some of Ukraine’s supporters.

The victory plan is Kyiv’s response to rising pressure from Western allies and war-weary Ukrainians to negotiate a cease-fire. A deal with Russia would almost certainly be unfavorable for Ukraine, which has lost a fifth of its territory and tens of thousands of lives in the conflict.

Associated Press contributed.