Lavrov criticized for Russia’s war in Ukraine at UN

UNITED NATIONS — America and Western allies took turns slamming Russia for its ongoing war in Ukraine and accused Moscow of trampling the U.N. Charter, during a lengthy Security Council meeting chaired by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Lavrov, who flew from Moscow to Recent York to preside over the Security Council, defended his country’s “special military operation” in Ukraine in opening remarks before the international forum. He also reiterated claims that Kyiv is the actual aggressor.

Lavrov then blamed the USA for exacerbating geopolitical challenges around the globe, including tensions between China and Taiwan.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., placed the blame squarely back on Russia during her opening remarks before the 15-member group.

“Our hypocritical convener today, Russia, invaded its neighbor Ukraine and struck at the guts of the U.N. Charter,” Thomas-Greenfield said, referring to the U.N.’s founding document that vows to preserve sovereignty, peace, justice and the prevention of war.

“This illegal, unprovoked and unnecessary war runs directly counter to our most sacred principle: that a war of aggression and territorial conquest isn’t, ever acceptable,” she said. “Today it’s Ukraine, but tomorrow it may very well be one other country, one other small nation that’s invaded by its larger neighbor,” she added.

In direct remarks to Lavrov, Thomas-Greenfield reiterated calls for the immediate release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, whose sister attended the meeting.

“I would like minister Lavrov to look into her eyes and see her suffering. I would like you to see what it’s wish to miss your brother for 4 years. To know he’s locked up, in a Russian penal colony, just because you wish to use him in your own ends,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who sat next to Lavrov, criticized Russia’s war, saying it was in violation of the United Nations Charter and international law.

The conflict, he said, was “causing massive suffering and devastation to the country and its people and adding to the worldwide economic dislocation triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic.”

He warned that tensions between the world’s major powers were at a “historic high.”

Guterres also called for the extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a U.N.-backed deal that established a humanitarian sea corridor for Ukrainian agricultural products.

The agreement has allowed for greater than 25 million metric tons of grain and foodstuff to depart from Ukrainian ports for destinations around the globe. Russia has previously said that it might not renew the agreement, which has an expiration date in mid-May.

Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine has brought “unimaginable suffering to that country while trampling on the U.N. Charter.”

“1000’s of Ukrainians have been killed and thousands and thousands have been displaced,” she said, adding that billions of individuals around the globe are feeling the brunt of upper energy prices and food insecurity due to the Kremlin’s ongoing conflict.

She added the war also has triggered “an unmitigated disaster for Russia too.”

Japan’s envoy also blasted Moscow’s war and demanded an instantaneous withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.

“It’s an irony, even a tragedy, that the Russian Federation, a everlasting member of the U.N. Security Council, continues its unilateral aggression against Ukraine while hosting an open debate on effective multilateralism through the defense of the principle of the U.N. Charter,” said Ishikane Kimihiro, everlasting representative of Japan to the United Nations.

“The unprovoked, ongoing aggression by Russia is nothing but an outright defiance of the principle of the U.N. Charter,” he added.