Almost all of the 15-member UNSC foreign ministers present at Thursday’s meeting expressed growing dismay at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with even Moscow’s closest allies taking an increasingly dim view. Many have called out Vladimir Putin for his recent nuclear threats, with the tone of that criticism depending on their government’s stance on the war. Finally, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the Ukrainian president a “b*****d” and criticized the “collective West” for seeing him as “their evil.” “Such outrages go unpunished because the United States and its allies with the connivance of international human rights institutions cover up the crimes of the Kiev regime based on the policy of ‘Zelensky may be awful, but he’s our b**** *d’,” said the foreign minister. He left after his speech and remained absent for most of the session having already arrived 90 minutes late – missing UN chief Antonio Guterres’ briefing. “What is particularly cynical here is the position of states that are pumping Ukraine full of weapons and training their soldiers,” Mr Lavrov said. “The goal is…to keep the fighting going as long as possible, despite the casualties and damage, in order to wear down and weaken Russia. “The deliberate fomenting of this conflict by the collective West remains unpunished.” Addressing the council immediately after Mr Lavrov, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverley said he was “not surprised” that Russia’s foreign minister walked out of the room after receiving the “collective condemnation of this council”. He said the Kremlin tried to “put the blame on those who impose sanctions” and that “every day, the devastating consequences of Russia’s invasion become clearer.” Russia’s allies – India, China and Brazil, which have often shied away from or outright opposed Western views on the invasion – have also spoken of the war’s dire consequences upending world food and energy security in a harsher tone than before. “The trajectory of the conflict in Ukraine is of deep concern to the entire international community. Future prospects appear even more alarming,” said Indian Foreign Minister Subramaniam Jaishankar. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks during a high-level meeting of the United Nations Security Council (REUTERS) “If the blatant attacks committed in broad daylight go unpunished, this council needs to think about the messages we are sending about impunity. There must be consistency if we want to ensure credibility,” he added. Without mentioning Russia in a carefully worded statement, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi laid out China’s firm stance that “the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries should be respected. The purposes of the principles of the United Nations Charter must be respected.” US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken criticized Mr Putin for his veiled reference to the use of nuclear weapons in the war. “Every member of the Council should send a clear message that these reckless nuclear threats must stop immediately. Tell President Putin to stop the horror he started,” Blinken said. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called on Russia to immediately stop its nuclear threats (Getty Images) “One man chose this war. One man can finish it,” he added. “Because if Russia stops fighting, the war ends. If Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends.” Foreign ministers and senior officials from Albania, France, Ireland, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, Kenya, Mexico and Norway offered similar rebukes about Russia and the war. “Russia’s actions are a flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter,” Albanian Foreign Minister Olta Xhacka said. “We all tried to prevent this conflict. We could not, but we must not, fail to hold Russia accountable.” Mr Lavrov was not at the meeting when Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called for a special tribunal to hold Russia’s leaders accountable for alleged war crimes. “There will be no peace without justice,” Mr Kuleba said. “None of Russia’s crimes in Ukraine would have been possible without the crime of aggression.” He mocked Mr Lavrov for leaving the room, saying: “I notice that the Russian diplomats are leaving almost as quickly as the Russian soldiers.” Mr Guterres called Russia’s nuclear threats against the West “totally unacceptable” and warned that the latest developments in Ukraine were “dangerous and worrying”. He said it was one step closer to an “endless cycle of horror and bloodshed”.
