He Secretary General The UN chief told the Council that the UN Charter is very clear: all international disputes must be resolved by peaceful means.
The Russian invasion of Crimea a decade ago, and the rest of Ukraine in 2022, “It is a clear violation of those principles”, with civilians paying the price, added António Guterres, who warns that “the longer this tragic war continues, the greater the risk of escalation and spread”.
“The death toll continues to rise“He continued, recalling that 10 million Ukrainians have had to flee their homes.
Nuclear responsibility
“Despite the immense challenges, the United Nations remains fully committed as the largest international presence in Ukraine,” the Secretary-General said.
But to achieve this, more support is needed from the international community to address the needs of civilians: “all attacks against them must cease immediately.”
Regarding Ukraine’s nuclear reactors, which are under Russian control, he urged all parties to act responsibly “and avoid any statement or action that could further destabilize an already incendiary situation.”
Ukraine: The UN Charter must work
The President of Ukraine, who is in New York, tells the Security Council that one day the war in his country will end.
He added: “This will happen, not because someone has grown tired of war. Not because someone has negotiated something with Putin. Russia’s war against Ukraine will end because the UN Charter It will work. It should work.. Our Ukrainian right to self-defense must prevail, (as must prevail) our cooperation with the nations of the world that value life as we do. Our territorial integrity. Our sovereignty, the independence of our country. We are defending what every nation would certainly want to protect for itself. And what the UN Charter grants to all.”
From the first second of this war, Russia has been doing things that cannot be justified under the UN Charter, he added.
“Every destroyed Ukrainian city, every burned village – and there are already hundreds – is Proof that Russia is committing an international crime. That is why this war cannot simply “fade away.” It cannot be calmed by dialogue alone. Action is needed. I am grateful to all the nations that are really helping, in ways that save the lives of our people.”
Russia responds
Stating that “Russia has always been ready to live in peace and as good neighbors with Ukraine.”, Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia declared that the country has become an “aggressive, Russophobic and neo-Nazi hornet’s nest”, seeking to join the “militarist NATO bloc”.
He noted that President Biden spoke about the need to save Ukraine, but assured that “the Ukrainian nation is not in danger. We are not fighting against it. We are fighting against a criminal regime that has seized power in Kyiv and is leading its people to disaster.”
The Russian envoy suggested that A fair and sustainable settlement of the crisis is impossible without addressing its root causesstarting with stopping violations against the Russian-speaking population and repealing other discriminatory laws.
“Today we hear multiple calls for a political and diplomatic solution, based on the UN Charter,” Nebenzia said, but without overcoming what Moscow calls the legacy of the Maidan coup in early 2014, and eliminating nationalism, Nazism and other discrimination, in line with Article 1.3 of the Charter, “there can be no agreement.”
He added that the “cancerous tumor” that is the Kyiv regime must be removed by peaceful means, and if not, Moscow will be forced to continue its “special military operation” until its objectives are met.
United States: A textbook example of a threat to peace
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia’s large-scale invasion was a “textbook example of a threat to international peace and security” of the kind the Security Council was created to prevent.
Addressing diplomats gathered at the Council’s horseshoe-shaped table, Blinken noted that the question was not what President Putin would do next in the war: “We already know that Putin will continue to wage an unjust war.”
The real question, he said, is how members of the UN Security Council “can end Putin’s war and strengthen the international rules and rights that make all our nations safer and more secure.”
Secretary Blinken highlighted Russia’s growing cooperation with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Iranwhich he said was bringing “carnage, suffering and ruin to innocent Ukrainian men and women.”
He added that cooperation between the three countries would “exacerbate threats” to international peace and security.
China: Stop the flow of weapons to the battlefield
For his part, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said he had taken note of the Ukrainian president’s words, but that the prospect of peace is still far away.
Every day that the conflict drags on brings more suffering to people “and more volatility to the world.”
China’s proposal is to recognize the magnitude of the crisis and “cool down the situation“.
Three principles should be applied: do not expand the battlefield, do not escalate the fighting and neither side should carry out any further provocations.
Wang noted that the more weapons are sent to the battlefield, the more difficult it will be to achieve a ceasefire.
“This is the reality we must face,” he said.All parties must abandon the Cold War mentality of confrontation“.
Dialogue and negotiation are the only way to end the war and peace talks are essential.
He added that more and more countries in the Global South are joining together to support a peaceful solution.
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