Zelenskyy urges UN to act over airstrikes – DW – 11/24/2022
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday to take action to stop Russian airstrikes targeting vital infrastructure that have once again plunged Ukrainian cities into darkness and cold as winter sets in.
“Today is just one day but we have received 70 missiles. That’s the Russian formula of terror,” Zelenskyy said via video link to the Council chamber in New York.
He said that hospitals, schools, transport infrastructure and residential areas had all been hit.
“When we have the temperature below zero, and millions of people without energy supplies, without heating, without water, this is an obvious crime against humanity,” he told the meeting in New York.
In his speech, Zelenskyy called for the adoption of a UN resolution condemning energy terror. Ukraine is waiting to see “a very firm reaction” to Wednesday’s airstrikes from the world, he added.
The Council is unlikely to take any action in response to the appeal since Russia is a member with veto power. However, Zelenskyy called for Russia to be denied a vote on any decision concerning its actions.
“We cannot be hostage to one international terrorist,” he said. “Russia is doing everything to make an energy generator a more powerful tool than the UN Charter.”
Russia’s UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya responded by complaining that it was against council rules for Zelenskyy to appear via video, and rejected what he called “reckless threats and ultimatums” by Ukraine and its supporters in the West.
Here are the other main headlines from the war in Ukraine on Thursday, November 24:
German deputy foreign minister accuses Russia of ‘state terrorism’
German Minister of State for Europe and Climate Anna Lührmann has told DW that Russia’s missile attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure amounted to “state terrorism.”
“It’s clear that Putin wants Ukraine to sink into cold and darkness this winter,” she told DW’s NIck Connolly during a visit to Kyiv amid the recent spate of Russian airstrikes.
“Ukrainians are facing up to all this with great bravery and we’re here to help them meet these challenges,” she said.
Lührmann, one of three deputies under Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, said she had come to Ukraine with an additional €55 million ($57.3 million) worth of support, including generators that will arrive in the next few days.
“Ukraine has our full solidarity. I believe that it’s not only Ukraine that would benefit for membership in the EU, the EU will be a better place with Ukraine as a member,” she added.
Macron: Russian strikes constitute ‘war crimes’
French President Emmanuel Macron has joined the chorus of European leaders and high-ranking officials in condemning Russia’s latest attacks on energy infrastructure.
“Every strike against civilian infrastructure constitutes a war crime and must not go unpunished,” Macron said.
He announced an aid conference to be held in Paris in December to raise money for the winter months. It follows a similar conference to raise money for Moldova earlier this week.
The French president said he intends to establish a direct line of contact regarding the fate of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Ukraine is struggling to meet electricity demands and continued threats to the facility pose a serious health and environmental risk.
Macron added: “The Russian strategy is to dishearten people on the ground.”
More coverage of the war in Ukraine
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said it was clear Russia was fighting a losing battle in Ukraine. Meanwhile, France’s Emmanuel Macron is preparing to resume “direct contact” with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Germany’s “ring exchange” of tanks to avoid directly arming Ukraine got off to a slow start. But some experts see it as the prelude to a shift in German security policy.
zc, dh/rt (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)