UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia's foreign minister clashed with supporters of the United States and Ukraine on Monday at a U.N. meeting where Moscow ruled out any peace plan backed by Kiev and the West and warned China that further global chaos would impact the slowing global economy could have.
Sergei Lavrov, Russia's top diplomat, claimed that Ukrainian forces had “completely failed” on the battlefield and were “unable” to defeat or weaken Russia.
He told the UN Security Council that Moscow was always ready for peace negotiations, but claimed that the peace plans put forward by Ukraine and its Western “masters” “serve only as a cover to continue the war and continue to get money from Western taxpayers.” “.
“All these formulas lead nowhere, and the sooner Washington, London, Paris and Brussels realize this, the better for Ukraine and the West,” he said, warning that their “crusade against Russia has already created a new, clear reputation. “and existential risks.”
U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood dismissed Lavrov's claims as “just blatant disinformation,” countering that it was Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 that sparked the war and that it was President Vladimir Putin's “single-minded pursuit of… “The “extinction” is “Ukraine and the subjugation of its people that they are prolonging.”
“Russia's imperialist intentions are clear” and “for Russia, anything other than surrender – the total surrender of Ukraine is the only solution, and that is simply not acceptable to the international community,” Wood said. He stressed that the war could end tomorrow if Moscow withdraws hundreds of thousands of troops from the internationally recognized territory of Ukraine.
Russia called the council meeting to once again sharply criticize Western military aid to Ukraine. Shortly before it began, diplomats from more than 40 countries surrounded Ukraine's U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya, who read a joint statement underscoring Russia's “hypocrisy” in criticizing legitimate arms transfers to help Ukraine defend itself.
Ukraine's supporters called Monday's meeting another attempt by Russia to “distract from its war of aggression” and condemned Moscow's military support – drones from Iran and ballistic missiles from North Korea – as a violation of UN sanctions, as well as military equipment from Belarus.
The council heard many calls for increased peace efforts, and there were growing concerns from Russia's ally China about the increasing threat to global security from the ongoing war in Ukraine, at the same time that Israel and Hamas are at war in Gaza following surprise attacks by the militant group in southern Israel on October 7th.
“We must spare no effort to contain the spillover of the (Ukraine) crisis at a time when the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is dragging on and some flashpoints are at risk of flaring up again,” China's UN Ambassador Zhang Jun said. The world cannot afford to see further escalation of geopolitical conflicts at the same time as the global economy slows.”
Zhang told the council: “The sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be respected,” which Ukraine has insisted and which Russia has violated by annexing four Ukrainian regions. But the Chinese ambassador criticized Ukraine for its desire to join NATO and warned Kiev, without mentioning Russia by name, that it would exacerbate Moscow's security concerns.
Zhang urged that direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine be resumed as soon as possible. He did not mention the peace plan that China issued in February 2023, which called for a ceasefire, negotiations and an end to sanctions against Russia, but focused on the war's disruptions to the global economy.
“The negative impact of the Ukraine crisis and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has added snow to the freezing global economy,” Zhang said. “Countries with significant influence should…refrain from politicizing, instrumentalizing or weaponizing the global economy and instead work together to maintain global food, energy and financial security, as well as the stability and smooth functioning of industrial and supply chains.”
China was the third speaker from the 15-member council and Lavrov left the country immediately after Zhang's speech, leaving his seat to a deputy. Lavrov did not hear Wood, but he did hear Malta's U.N. Ambassador Vanessa Frazier, who reiterated U.S. calls for Russia to withdraw its forces and accused Moscow of violating its duty to maintain international peace and security, the Security Council's primary mission .
“Today's meeting is another attempt to justify the unjustified and provide a narrative in which the victim is the attacker and the attacker is the victim,” Frazier said, lamenting the killing of 10,200 Ukrainian civilians, including 575 children, and the More than 10,000 Ukrainian civilians wounded According to the UN human rights office, 19,300 others have been involved in Russian attacks since the start of the war.