The UN General Assembly plans to pass a resolution today calling for Moscow's withdrawal from Ukraine. Before the decision, Russia's UN ambassador complained about the West's support for the attacked country. He also draws a questionable parallel to the Second World War.
Russia's UN Ambassador Wassili Nebensja has accused Germany and the West in the Ukraine conflict of similar motives as in the Second World War. "This is a war that, as was the case 80 years ago, involves a treacherous and powerful enemy who wants to take over our country and subjugate us," Nebensia said Wednesday at a special session of the UN General Assembly marking the anniversary of the Russian invasion of the neighboring country.
The West wants to achieve the end of Russia. "The goal now is to arm Ukraine and inflict a strategic defeat on my country, to dismember and destroy it," he added. "The German tanks will kill Russians once again."
A year after the start of the war, the largest UN body is to adopt a resolution today calling for peace and Moscow's withdrawal. The draft reaffirms a number of previously agreed General Assembly positions, such as Ukraine's territorial integrity. Dozens of speeches by high-ranking speakers are expected.
Behind the scenes at the UN, discussions have been going on in recent months about how substantial a resolution on the anniversary of the invasion could be. According to UN sources, Ukraine had been working on resolutions outlining a war crimes tribunal and text that would translate a ten-point peace plan by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into a UN document. However, both ideas were rejected for the vote.
The text that is now available contains rather vague formulations about the end of the war: Achieving a comprehensive peace, which is necessary, would "make a significant contribution to strengthening world peace and international security," it says.
It also calls for a full exchange of prisoners of war and stresses the need for those responsible for the most serious war crimes to be held accountable. According to diplomats, a result with approval from more than 130 or again 140 countries seems possible.
