Ruptly
"Russia's representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzia slammed Ukraine, the UK and Kiev's other 'European sponsors' during a heated UNSC session on Monday. UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo listed a number of attacks on Russian and Russian-held territory, acknowledging that "the conflict is intensifying." Nebenzia demanded the body go further by issuing "strong condemnation from the UN Secretary-General of the crimes committed by Zelensky's regime militants against peaceful civilians in Starobelsk and Yanakievo" instead of "silence, verbal gymnastics, and evasion." Meanwhile, UK representative Archie Young welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's "call for a full ceasefire and a diplomatic end to the war, most recently set out in his open letter to President Putin." "President Putin should now respond by engaging in serious, meaningful peace talks," he added. In response, the Russian representative questioned what he called 'megaphone diplomacy' by the Ukrainian president. "We cannot ignore commenting on the so-called open letter from Zelensky to the President of Russia, Putin, which is by no means a peace initiative," he continued, labelling the initiative as 'clumsy' and 'unscrupulous', with 'old threats and propagandist cliches'. "We strive for a stable and long-term resolution of the conflict," he added, noting that Zelensky must first 'realise the erroneous nature of his course' and show a desire for 'discreet' talks without ultimatums. Nebenzia also attacked what he described as double-standards in the UK position on finding a negotiated settlement to end the war. "All these words are devoid of any connection with reality, because the Western countries which talk the most about humanism and the suffering of civilians, showed their true face to the whole world just a week ago. When an incident occurred in Galati, Romania with the UAV, baseless accusations against Russia quickly followed from the leadership of the EU, NATO, as well as from the states and members of the European Union," he declared. He further laid the blame for the Russia-Ukraine conflict firmly at the door of Downing Street. "In April 2022, the notorious Boris Johnson, then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, hurriedly rushed to Kiev to prevent the signing by Russia and of Ukraine the already initialled peace agreements in Istanbul," he alleged. "Who should bear responsibility for the death of 15,000 civilians and on whose hands is the blood of dozens thousands of wounded and maimed Ukrainians? While hypocritically calling for peace, you and your accomplices from other European countries have done and continue to do everything to make the bloodshed endless," he went on. "European countries, since colonial times, have been suffering from an extreme degree of arrogance and their own sense of exceptionalism," he claimed. The UK representative responded to Nebenzia's claims, describing them as an "attempt to deflect from the focus today on the tragic loss of civilian life in Ukraine." "The UK has never prevented nor stopped any peace negotiation between Ukraine and Russia, nor could we. Why does Russia find it so hard to imagine that Ukraine as a sovereign country makes sovereign decisions?" he noted. Nebenzia's deputy Anna Evstigneeva blasted back, claiming that Young was attempting to "shift the blame." "Half the world knows the saying that if two neighbours are fighting, an Englishman was visiting yesterday. And for many people this wisdom has been very costly for many countries," she claimed. Moscow launched a military offensive in Ukraine in late February 2022 after recognising the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR), claiming that Kiev had failed to guarantee their special status under the 2014 Minsk Agreements, and urging Ukraine to declare itself officially neutral and give assurances that it would never join NATO. Kiev denounced the Russian action as an invasion. Zelensky imposed martial law throughout the country, announcing a general mobilisation, while the EU and the US imposed several rounds of sanctions on Moscow."
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