KUCHING, 1 March: As war in Ukraine enters its fifth day, Reuters has reported that Ukraine has sent its UN ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, to meet with the members of the United Nations General assembly.
In a devastated tone, he exclaimed, “Have no illusions. If Ukraine does not survive, we cannot be surprised if democracy fails next.”
Members of the assembly have expressed their concerns as the conflict could cause Europe’s worst humanitarian and refugee crisis in decades.
Speaking at the assembly, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said, “although Russian attacks are reportedly targeting the Ukrainian military, we have viable proof of residential buildings, civilian casualties, and other non-military entities suffering heavy damage from the attacks.”
In an effort to defend President Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine, Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, told the General Assembly that Russian forces were not occupying Ukrainian soil but are instead attacking nationalists that pose a threat to the breakaway states of Luhansk and Donetsk.
Similarly, Ambassador Oksana Markarova was due to meet with the U.S congress. In their meeting, Oksana told lawmakers that Russia was using a vacuum bomb in the conflict, a type of munition prohibited in the Geneva convention.
She also highlighted the need for America to join in actions to adopt a no-fly zone policy for Russian aircraft.
Deemed dangerous initially by members of Congress, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters, “A no-fly zone requires implementation which in result would erupt a direct conflict due to the deployment of US military in Ukraine for enforcement.”
Back in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday it was time for the West to consider imposing a no-fly zone for Russian missiles, planes, and helicopters in response to Russian shelling of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
Other Western powers are yet to join in such policy implementation but as of today, Moscow is facing increasing international isolation as talks to resolve the conflict failed to make a breakthrough.
During the peace negotiations between both powers, Ukraine had said it wanted to secure an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian forces. However, the meeting ended abruptly with officials heading back to capitals for further consultations before the second round of negotiations.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted, “the Russian side, unfortunately, still has a very biased view of the destructive processes it has launched.”
Elsewhere, U.S technology firm Microsoft showed its support for Ukraine by announcing that its party will provide threat intelligence and defensive suggestions to the latter including the threat of cyber thefts of data.
European football’s governing body, UEFA, has also shown its support for Ukraine by scrapping a major deal with Russian gas giant Gazprom while in its conjoined efforts with FIFA, all Russian teams were suspended from any European competitions till further notice. – TVS
