Russia breaks the minute’s silence for the victims of Ukraine

The United Nations Security Council observed a minute of silence on Friday after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia of committing genocide against his country.

However, the silence was broken by Russia’s UN envoy, who insisted it be held for “all those” who have died in the conflict – including those since 2014.

“All lives are priceless,” said Russian UN envoy Vasily Nebenzya, who at the same session in New York City accused the West of using the Security Council to advance its own agenda.

Kuleba proposed a minute’s silence in honor of the “victims of aggression” at Friday’s session – marking the one-year anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

But when he and other members of the meeting stood up, the Russian ambassador began tapping his microphone. Speaking to distraught delegates, he urged: “We honor all victims of what has happened in Ukraine since 2014.”

Moscow has accused Kiev – without evidence – of committing a genocide against Russian speakers in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region, where fighting between Ukrainian troops and Russian separatists has been ongoing since 2014.

Nebenzya’s comments appeared to be a nod to this claim, as well as Russia’s claim that Ukraine and the West are responsible for the fighting in the region and for Putin’s invasion on February 24, 2022.

The members of the meeting were forced to sit down again to listen to Nebenzya. “Everyone who died. All lives are priceless,” he told the session.

According to the United Nations, more than 8,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and 13,000 injured since the country was invaded a year ago today.

Additionally, both sides are said to have lost tens of thousands of casualties in brutal fighting. A recent British estimate assumes that in Russia alone more than 200,000 soldiers were lost to death or injury.

The scuffle came after the UN voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to demand that Russia immediately and unconditionally withdraw its troops from Ukraine.

Ukraine won strong support in a non-binding vote with 141 out of 193 UN members in favor, seven against and 32, including China and India, abstaining.

On the eve of the first anniversary of the brutal war, support for Kiev has changed little from last October, when 143 countries voted to condemn Russia’s announced annexation of four Ukrainian regions.

“Today the United Nations General Assembly spoke very clearly,” said Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief.

“This vote shows that the international community is behind Ukraine.”

The vote came after a two-day debate in which Kuleba urged the international community to “choose between good and evil”.

He rejected the idea that Kiev only enjoys support from the West – the European Union, the United States and their key allies.

“The vote refutes the argument that the South is not on Ukraine’s side because many countries representing Latin America, Africa and Asia voted for it today,” said Kuleba. “The support is much broader and will only consolidate and firm,” he added.

Pictured: Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and other officials observe a minute’s silence at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to mark one year since Russia invaded Ukraine. However, the gesture was interrupted by the representative of Russia

Pictured: An aerial view of the city of Bakhmut (February 14) in eastern Ukraine, which was almost completely destroyed as Kiev’s soldiers fought to defend it from Russian invaders

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, thanked everyone “who stood up for Ukraine on the anniversary of the unprovoked Russian aggression”.

“The world understands whose side the truth is,” he said.

However, Nebenzya insisted on Friday that the motion was only tabled to serve the West’s agenda.

“What we see today is another attempt to give certain rights to a group of the country, while you, as a representative of the golden billion, favor Ukraine simply because it is part of your geopolitical project,” he said.

“It seems that the problems of the rest of the world are none of your business. It seems that the unprecedented number of delegations invited today…12 EU countries…it is clear that all these countries, representing the same EU position dictated by Brussels, will not add any value to the discussion, ” he added.

A day earlier, he rejected the resolution, calling Ukraine “neo-Nazi” and accusing the West of sacrificing the country and developing countries in its desire to defeat Russia. “They are ready to plunge the whole world into the abyss of war” to maintain their own “hegemony”, Nebenzya said.

The resolution reiterated support for Ukraine’s “sovereignty” and “territorial integrity” and rejected all Russian claims to parts of the country.

It also demanded “that the Russian Federation immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all its armed forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders” and called for “a cessation of hostilities”.

The vote showed that Moscow is still isolated on the world stage after 12 months of war. It received support from only six other countries: Belarus, Syria, North Korea, Mali, Nicaragua and Eritrea.

Despite its limited support, Russia used its veto power to block any binding motion against Russia in the UN Security Council.

Instead, the UN General Assembly took up the issue and in successive votes showed firm support for Kiev. “Next year we should not gather here to celebrate the second anniversary of this senseless war of aggression,” Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said during the debate.

“Russia can and must stop tomorrow,” said French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna. “This war waged by Russia is everyone’s business because it threatens the existence of a state, because it represents a dominant and imperialist plan and because it denies the existence of borders.”

The poll showed that India and China were not convinced to directly condemn the invasion in Moscow, although both criticized Moscow’s threats to use nuclear weapons in the conflict.

Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, addresses the 11th General Assembly special session on Ukraine February 22 at UN Headquarters in New York City

Before the vote, Dai Bing, China’s deputy representative to the United Nations, took a neutral stance, urging both sides to stop fighting and start peace talks.

“We support Russia and Ukraine to reach out to each other and resume direct dialogue as soon as possible,” he said.

But he also articulated one of Russia’s justifications for the invasion, namely that its own security was threatened by Ukraine’s affinity with Western Europe and NATO.

Any agreement, he said, must “take into account the reasonable security concerns of all countries, while giving due consideration to their legitimate security aspirations.”