Ukraine reports significant battlefield gains; Moscow confirms troops withdrew from Lyman region

Underlining that “escalation of rhetoric or tensions is in no one’s interest” and it is “important that pathways are found for a return to the negotiating table”, India Saturday abstained on a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution, which would have condemned Moscow’s “illegal referenda” and declared its annexation of four Ukrainian territories as invalid. The UNSC resolution was vetoed by Russia.

The UNSC could not adopt the resolution as Russia — a permanent member of the UN Security Council — vetoed it. It was supported by 10 of the 15 members of the Council, while China, Gabon, India, and Brazil abstained.

Addressing the Council after the vote, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ruchira Kamboj, said: “India is deeply disturbed by the recent turn of developments in Ukraine. We have always advocated that no solution can ever be arrived at the cost of human lives.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed treaties Friday to illegally annex more occupied Ukrainian territory in a sharp escalation of his seven-month invasion. Ukraine’s president countered with a surprise application to join the NATO military alliance.

Putin’s land-grab and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s signing of what he said is an “accelerated” NATO membership application sent the two leaders speeding faster on a collision course that is cranking up fears of a full-blown conflict between Russia and the West.

Putin vowed to protect newly annexed regions of Ukraine by “all available means,” a renewed nuclear-backed threat he made at a Kremlin signing ceremony where he also railed furiously against the West, accusing the United States and its allies of seeking Russia’s destruction.

Zelenskyy then held a signing ceremony of his own in Kyiv, releasing video of him putting pen to papers he said were a formal NATO membership request.