The United Nations said on Tuesday that the United States and Russia are not interested in peace talks in Ukraine as calls grow at the UN for a ceasefire and diplomacy to end the war started by Moscow's invasion nine months ago.
Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the UN Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine that Moscow had noted interest from a large majority of UN member states in a diplomatic settlement.
We are reacting very seriously to this. He said we confirmed our willingness to conduct negotiations, but added that the aim would be to eliminate the root causes that forced us to start our special military operation. SMO Moscow initially said its mission was to disarm Ukraine so that it could not be a threat to Russia and denazify it by rooting out leaders it characterized as nationalists. Western countries believe Russia's original aims were to defeat Ukraine's military and overthrow its pro-Western government.
More than any other country. Ukraine's UN ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said it was Ukraine's territory that has been invaded. This is something you keep in mind every time Moscow attempts to persuade us that it is not the aggressor, but the victim who resists peace efforts. Nebenzia accused Western countries of not being interested in a diplomatic settlement in Ukraine because they were instead expanding weapons deliveries to Kyiv.
It's an ongoing war of the West against Russia that leaves us with no other option but to continue the aims of our SMO, according to Nebenzia.
Russia has recently struck Ukraine's energy infrastructure. UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told the Security Council on Tuesday that millions of people were left without access to heat, electricity and water, worsening the humanitarian crisis caused by Russia's February 24 invasion.
President Putin's escalating barrages on Ukraine's infrastructure show that he has no genuine interest in negotiation or meaningful diplomacy, Deputy US Ambassador to the United Nations, Lisa Carty, told the 15 member council.
She said he is trying to break Ukraine's will to fight by bombing and freezing its civilians into submission.
The UN Security CouncilUN Security Council has met dozens of times on Ukraine since February, but it is not able to take any meaningful action as Russia is a veto power, along with Britain, China, France and the United States.
Given the disarray and despair of the population already weakened by months of war, it is not enough to have more and more meetings with the international community without a genuine alternative to war, Gabon's Deputy UN Ambassador Edwige Koumby Missambo told the council.
She said that the time has come to negotiate the end of the war.
Russia has asked the council to meet again on Friday to discuss weapons from the Ukraine conflict that could be used by bandits and terrorists in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.