Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has met wounded Ukrainian soldiers at a New York City hospital ahead of his address to world leaders at the United Nations.

In his first in-person visit to the 193-member world body since Russia’s February 2022 invasion, Zelensky is due to speak to the annual General Assembly of world leaders on Tuesday.

Zelensky travelled straight from the airport after landing in New York on Monday to Staten Island University Hospital, where Ukrainian soldiers have been treated for amputations.

Volodymyr Zelensky visits wounded soldiers in New York. – Reuters

After New York, he will travel to Washington, where he is expected to meet with US President Joe Biden and members of Congress. In a post on Telegram, Zelensky said he also plans to meet military and business officials.

Days before potentially crossing paths with Russia’s top diplomat at the United Nations, Zelensky suggested the world body 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," Zelensky said at the hospital.

"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.”

Russia is a permanent, veto-wielding member of the council, and Foreign Minister Minister Sergey Lavrov is expected to make remarks.

Asked whether he'd stay in the room to listen, Zelensky said: “I don't know how it will be, really.”

Volodymyr Zelensky with a wounded Ukrainian soldier at Staten Island University Hospital. – Reuters

Zelensky will also meet Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in New York on Wednesday, the office of the Brazilian presidency said on Monday.

Lula has advocated the creation of a group of nations to mediate an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine, but in May he stated that both Moscow and Kyiv were to blame for the conflict, angering the United States and European states who back Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion.

Last month, the Brazilian leftist leader told reporters neither Zelensky nor Russian President Vladimir Putin were ready for peace.

Lula and Zelensky have never met, though they spoke by video call in March days after Brazil voted for a UN resolution that called for peace and demanded Moscow withdraw its troops.

In May, Lula’s foreign policy adviser Celso Amorim traveled to Kyiv and met Zelensky, six weeks after he went to Moscow to meet with Putin.

Zelensky said on social media he told Amorim the only way to end the war was his peace plan that calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops and restoration of Ukraine’s borders.

Volodymyr Zelensky gives a wounded Ukrainian soldier a medal at Staten Island University Hospital. – Reuters