The General Assembly debates the resolution that deplores the war in Ukraine and that Moscow vetoed on Friday
The Security Council takes up another proposal focused on the protection of civilians and humanitarian aid
The war launched by Russia in Ukraine has open multiple diplomatic fronts and this Monday one of the fiercest fields of that battle has been the headquarters of United Nations in New York. As the body held in the General Assembly and in the Security Council two meetings that address the crisis, United States has communicated to Russia the statement as “persona non grata” of 12 of the diplomats of the Moscow mission before the agency and ordered them to leave the country before March 7.
Opening the afternoon session of the Security Council, whose rotating presidency this February has been held by Russia, the Moscow Ambassador Vasili Nebenzia has condemned Washington’s decision as “a hostile pass”. A US representativefor his part, has defended the expulsion order, assuring that the diplomats in New York are “iinvolved in actions not in accordance with their responsibilities and obligations”. Washington has assured that they participated in “espionage activities contrary to national security”.
humanitarian crisis
The Council session served to start debating a new motion for a resolution which could be voted on Tuesday. Presented by France and Mexico, it focuses on guaranteeing the protection of civilians in Ukraine and the humanitarian aid in the face of a crisis that, as reported Philippo Grandi, high commissioner for refugeesalready includes 520,000 people who have had to flee the country, a number that is growing at an “alarming” rate.
The resolution’s chances of success are nil given Russia’s veto right in the Council, which Moscow already exercised on Friday to defeat another resolution that, unlike the latter, “deplored & rdquor; their war actions in Ukraine. That project is the one that has reached the unusual emergency session which opened on Monday general Assemblyonly the eleventh in its history and the first in 40 years of the organ with 193 members, which will end with a vote that will not be binding but that serves to demonstrate the growing isolation of Russia, as well as its support.
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At the opening of the extraordinary session, the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterreshas assured that “it is totally unacceptable this escalation of violence, that is leaving dead civilians, including children & rdquor ;. “Enough”, the Portuguese has implored, who in the face of the escalation of rhetoric and threats has stressed that “nothing can justify the use of nuclear weapons & rdquor ;.
Also in that session, in which more than 100 nations have asked to speak, the Ukrainian Ambassador Sergii Kislitsia, has warned about the consequences of the war beyond his country. “If Ukraine does not survive, the international peace will not survive. If Ukraine does not survive, the UN will not survive & rdquor ;, he said. “If Ukraine does not survive we cannot be surprised if the next thing to fail is the democracy”.