New York, September 22 – UN Security Council members strongly criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for threatening to use nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine and for trying to annex Ukrainian territories.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a council meeting on the war in Ukraine, “Every council member should send a clear message that these reckless nuclear threats must stop immediately.”
Foreign ministers of the council’s 15 countries attended the meeting. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov rejected charges made by other council members about war crimes committed in Ukraine and he accused Western countries of supporting the war by arming the government in Ukraine.
The strong reaction against nuclear threats followed Putin’s order of partial mobilization of new Russian troops to fight in Ukraine and threat to “use all means available to us” if Russia is threatened.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guteres said, “This senseless war has unlimited potential to do terrible harm – in Ukraine, and around the world. The idea of nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, has become a subject of debate. This in itself is totally unacceptable.”
“Any annexation of a state’s territory by another state resulting from the threat or use of force is a violation of the UN Charter and of international law,” he said.
Karim Khan, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court based at The Hague, Netherlands, said he had opened an investigation on alleged war crimes in Ukraine in March. He told the council that he planned to send new teams next week to gather evidence into possible war crimes in eastern Ukraine.
Khan said there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that crimes have been committed in the war. “The picture that I’ve seen so far is troubling indeed,” he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy virtually addressed the UN General Assembly on September 21 saying that crimes have been committed against Ukraine, “and we demand just punishment.”
“The crime was committed against our state borders. The crime was committed against the lives of our people. The crime was committed against the dignity of our women and men.
The crime was committed against the values that make you and me a community of the United Nations,” he said. “And Ukraine demands punishment for trying to steal our territory. Punishment for the murders of thousands of people. Punishment for tortures and humiliations of women and men.”
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