UN: Russia says West 'is willing to sacrifice Ukraine' to defeat Putin

Russia says the West ‘is willing to plunge the entire world into the abyss of war’ and ‘sacrifice Ukraine’ to defeat Putin

• UN met to discuss resolution calling for Russia to immediately pull out of Ukraine
• Dozens of countries have sponsored the resolution, which stresses ‘the need to reach a […] just and lasting peace in Ukraine’

Russia has claimed the West ‘is willing to plunge the entire world into the abyss of war’ and ‘sacrifice Ukraine’ to defeat Vladimir Putin and his invading armies.

Moscow’s UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya told a special meeting of the UN General Assembly that the United States and its European allies were ignoring ‘neo-Nazism in Ukraine’ to use the country to crush Russia and maintain global power – parroting a Kremlin line that has been widely discredited.

‘In this desire of theirs to defeat Russia in any way possible, they cannot just sacrifice Ukraine, they are ready to plunge the entire world into the abyss of war,’ Nebenzya said on Wednesday, two days before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion.

‘They are competing against each other in the number of sanctions that are imposed on my country, whereas these sanctions in actual fact are hitting the developing world hardest,’ he said.

Nebenzya was speaking at the opening of a debate on a new resolution backed by Ukraine and its allies calling for Russia to immediately and unconditionally pull its troops out of Ukraine and urging a lasting and just peace deal to the year-long war. 

Russia has claimed the West ‘is willing to plunge the entire world into the abyss of war’ and ‘sacrifice Ukraine’ to defeat Vladimir Putin and his invading armies. Pictured: Ukrainian soldiers ride tank down a road near the eastern town of Bakhmut

Nebenzya was speaking at the opening of a debate on a new resolution backed by Ukraine and its allies calling for Russia to immediately and unconditionally pull its troops out of Ukraine. Pictured: Ukrainian soldiers fire a mortar towards Russian positions near Bakhmut

Russia calls the invasion a ‘special military operation’ against security threats and has cast deliveries of heavy weapons to Ukraine as proof that the West is escalating the war. Kyiv and its allies call Russia’s actions an imperialistic land grab.

Russia’s army is a guarantor of stability, Putin says

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called Russia’s army a guarantor of national stability, promising to boost arms production nearly a year after the start of the Ukraine offensive.

‘A modern, efficient army and navy are a guarantee of the country’s security and sovereignty, a guarantee of its stable development and its future,’ Putin said in a video address on the occasion of the annual ‘Defender of the Fatherland Day’ holiday in Russia.

‘That’s why, as before, we will pay priority attention to strengthening our defence capabilities,’ he added on the eve of the first anniversary of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.

Putin said Russia will ‘conduct the balanced and high-quality development of all components of the armed forces’ in particular by equipping troops with ‘new strike systems, reconnaissance and communication equipment, drones and artillery systems’.

‘Now our industry is rapidly increasing the production of an entire range of conventional weapons,’ he said in the video released by the Kremlin.

The president also hailed Russian soldiers, who are fighting ‘heroically’ in Ukraine and ‘defending our people in our historical lands’.

Russia’s ‘unbreakable unity is the key to our victory,’ he said.

Putin sent Moscow’s troops to Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching what he called a ‘special military operation’.

In the autumn he announced the mobilisation of 300,000 reservists to boost Russia’s ranks in Ukraine, which is backed financially and militarily by Washington and several European capitals.

During his two decades in power, Putin has made strengthening the armed forces a top priority and introduced hypersonic weapons, which he described as ‘invincible’, to Russia’s arsenal.

‘What is at stake after all is keeping the United States’ and its allies’ hegemony. They don’t want to have anyone come to the level of governing the planet. They think it’s their turf,’ he said, in comments rejected by other UN representatives. 

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned Russia’s invasion during the assembly. ‘That invasion is an affront to our collective conscience,’ Guterres said, calling the one-year anniversary ‘a grim milestone for the people of Ukraine and for the international community.’

As fighting raged on in Ukraine, the General Assembly began debating a motion backed by Kyiv and its allies calling for a ‘just and lasting peace.’

While the measure is not as tough as Ukraine would like, it is hoping that a large majority of UN states will back the non-binding resolution to demonstrate Kyiv has the support of the global community.

Dozens of countries have sponsored the resolution, which stresses ‘the need to reach, as soon as possible, a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine in line with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.’

It reaffirms the UN’s ‘commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine’ and calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

It also demands Russia ‘immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine.’

In his opening remarks, Guterres highlighted the impact on the world of Russia’s February 24, 2022 invasion of its neighbor.

He noted that it has generated eight million refugees, and hurt global food and energy supplies in countries far away from the war zone.

‘As I said from day one, Russia’s attack on Ukraine challenges the cornerstone principles and values of our multilateral system,’ he said.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also rejected Nebenzya’s comments.

‘I want to stress it: this war is not a ‘European issue’. Nor is it about ‘the West versus Russia’,’ Borrell told the General Assembly. 

‘No, this illegal war concerns everyone: the North, the South, the East and the West.’

The US envoy to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said the new vote ‘would go down in history… We will see where the nations of the world stand on the matter of peace in Ukraine.’

‘I urge you to vote against – against any and all hostile amendments that seek to undermine the UN Charter and ignore the truth of this war,’ she said. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at a memorial to the Hero Cities of the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany, by the Kremlin Wall on the Defender of the Fatherland Day in Moscow, Russia, February 23

Moscow’s UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya (pictured) told a special meeting of the UN General Assembly that the United States and its European allies were ignoring ‘neo-Nazism in Ukraine’ to use the country to crush Russia and maintain global power – parroting a Kremlin line that has been widely discredited

Ahead of the General Assembly session, Ukraine’s first lady told a meeting of top global diplomats that for real justice to be served, an international tribunal should be convened to judge Russia.

‘I think you will agree… regardless of our country or nationality, we have the right not to be killed in our own homes,’ Olena Zelenska said via video link.

‘However, Ukrainians are being killed in front of the whole world for the whole year in their own cities, villages, apartments, hospitals, theaters.’

‘That’s why we call on the United Nations to establish a special tribunal for the crimes of Russian aggression,’ she said.

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