‘They go straight to hell..’: Who said what at UN meet on Ukraine, 2nd in a week
In an unusual exchange in the council chamber, Ukraine envoy challenged his Russian counterpart to say that his country wasn't at that very moment bombing and shelling Ukraine or moving troops into it.
The UN Security Council convened an emergency meeting on Thursday as the situation at the Ukrainian border escalated quickly, with Russian President Vladimir Putin announcing a “military operation” in the Donbas region. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made an impassioned appeal to Putin at the start of the second emergency Security Council session in three days over the Ukraine crisis. While western countries urged Moscow to back away from the brink, the Russian representative to the UN said that the operation has been declared to “protect the people of Ukraine who have been suffering for years.”
Here’s are the top quotes from UN Security Council meeting:
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
"President Putin, stop your troops from attacking Ukraine, give peace a chance, too many people have already died."
“What is clear for me is that this war doesn’t make any sense.”
Ukraine’s UN Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya
“I welcome the decision of some members of this council to meet as soon as possible to consider the necessary decision it would condemn the aggression that you launched on my people. There is no purgatory for war criminals. They go straight to hell, Ambassador,” Kyslytsya said while directly addressing his Russian counterpart.
Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia’s response
"We aren't being aggressive against the Ukrainian people, but against the junta that is in power in Kyiv."
India's Permanent Representative to UN, TS Tirumurti
"[W]e note with regret, that the calls of the international community to give time to the recent initiatives undertaken by parties to diffuse tensions were not heeded to. The situation is in danger of spiralling into a major crisis.”
"We believe that the solution lies in sustained diplomatic dialogue between the concerned parties. In the meantime, we strongly emphasise the vital need for all sides to maintain international peace and security by exercising the utmost restraint.”
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield
"At the exact time as we are gathered in the council seeking peace, Putin delivered a message of war in total disdain for the responsibility of this Council. This is a grave emergency.”
French UN Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere
"This decision - announced at the very moment when the council was meeting - shows the disdain that Russia has for international law and for the United Nations."
