“Enough is enough! The fighting must stop,” said the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, following the opening this Monday (02.28.2022) of the extraordinary emergency session of the General Assembly that will decide whether or not to condemn the invasion from Russia to Ukraine, following the failure of the Security Council.
This extraordinary meeting of the 193 members of the UN, the first of its kind in 40 years and the eleventh in its history, began with a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the conflict that began on February 24 with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“If Ukraine does not survive, let us not be surprised if democracy fails,” said the Ukrainian ambassador to the UN, Sergiy Kyslytsya. “Save the United Nations, save democracy and defend the values we believe in,” he implored in a speech.
Prepare draft resolution
Under the title “Russia’s unprovoked armed aggression once morest Ukraine”, the draft resolution that will be put to a vote in the Assembly, promoted by the Europeans in coordination with Kiev and obtained by AFP, “condemns in the strongest terms the Russian aggression once morest Ukraine.
The text that is being worked on, which is not binding, would condemn the Russian invasion and demand the withdrawal of its troops.
“War is not the answer,” Guterres recalled before stressing that “we need peace now.”
Russia’s argument for self-defense was categorically rejected by Westerners as well as by the UN, which accuses Moscow of violating Article 2 of the UN Charter, which requires its members to refrain from any threat or use of force to settle a dispute. crisis.
ee // efe / afp
