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The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss the unfolding attack on Ukraine this afternoon, with the United States confirming that it would file a motion on the military action over the coming day while Ukraine called for Russia to be spilled from the Presidency of the Council.
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The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting this afternoon, with member nations issuing stark rebukes against the Russian Federation and President Vladimir Putin.
At the outset of the meeting, the Secretary-General of the UN Security Council António Guterres pleaded with Russia’s top decision makers to stop the invasion.
“The day was full of rumours and indications that an offensive against the Ukraine was imminent. In the recent past, there were several situations with similar indications, similar rumours and I never believed in them,” Guterres began.
“Convinced that nothing serious would happen. I was wrong, and I would like not to be wrong again today. So, if indeed an operation is being prepared, I have only one thing to say from the bottom of my heart: President Putin, stop your troops from attacking the Ukraine. Give peace a chance, too many people have already died.”
Guterres then passed over to Under-Secretary-General Rosemary Di Carlo, who gave a situation update to those members present. Di Carlo explained that earlier in the day, the Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk had requested military assistance from Russia prompting Ukraine to declare a nationwide state of emergency and mobilise the country’s reserve forces.
Di Carlo then warned that there had been reports of shelling in civilian areas, with attacks against civilian infrastructure with Ukrainian airspace cut off.
At the time of the UN Security Council meeting, the UN had not been able to verify the reports.
Following the situational update from the Secretaries-General to the Security Council, member states issued a series of rebukes against the Russian Federation and President Putin.
Albanian representative Ferit Hoxha went as far as to issue a stern warning regarding Russia’s “hegemonistic vision”.
“Russia has been saying one thing and doing its contrary … every development unfolding in the last 48-hours confirms to us and to the world, that Russian worries have nothing to do with its security. That its anxieties are not linked to NATO enlargement,” Hoxha explained.
“That this issue is not a confrontation between Russia and the west. This is a confrontation between Russia and international law, the UN Charter that it deliberately has chosen to ignore, a confrontation between a hegemonistic vision and the rules based world order.”
Hoxha’s concerns were reiterated by many members present, with the French representative accusing Russia of inciting “violence through lies and disinformation”.
However China and India refrained from issuing warnings to Russia, with the Indian representative calling for an “immediate de-escalation” while China urged “all parties concerned” to “exercise restraint”.
“We believe that the door to a peacefully solution to the Ukraine issue is not fully shut, nor should it be. China has pointed out on many occasions that there is a complex historical context on the Ukraine issue and that the current situation is as a result of the interplay of many factors,” China’s representative Zhang Jun told the members present.
Russia on the other hand blamed Ukrainian hostility for the outbreak in fighting.
“I can only state with a regret that taking stock of the day as signals to Kiev about the need to stop provocations against the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics were not heeded,” Russian representative and incumbent President of the UN Security Council Vasily Nebenzya said.
In fact, Nebenzya went as far as to suggest that Ukraine was “armed and egged on by a host of states”.
The emergency meeting wrapped up with the United States confirming that the country would issue a motion on regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine over the coming day, while the Ukrainian representative called on the President to vacate his chair as the Russian Federation had violated Article 4 of the UN Charter.
