UN slams Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats
World leaders at the UN condemned Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats and gave a standing ovation to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
World leaders at the UN condemned Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats and gave a standing ovation to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as the Russian despot’s call-up of 300,000 reservists sparked protests and a rush by fighting-age men to flee the country.
Joe Biden, in an address to the UN General Assembly hours after Mr Putin said he was prepared to use nuclear weapons, accused him of “outrageous acts” in Ukraine and “shamelessly” violating the UN Charter.
The US President denounced his Russian counterpart for making “overt nuclear threats against Europe”, and warned that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought”.
Mr Zelensky addressed the assembly via videolink – the only leader allowed to do so – urging the UN to punish Russia for its invasion of his country. He also called for a special tribunal and compensation fund, and for Moscow to be stripped of its UN Security Council veto.
“A crime has been committed against Ukraine and we demand just punishment,” Mr Zelensky said, sparking applause from the UN delegates.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Mr Putin’s threats were “unthinkable” and “irresponsible”, and ridiculed his claims to be defending Russian territory.
“Russia alone is responsible for this illegal and immoral war, and peace must first lie with Russia withdrawing from Ukrainian territory,” Senator Wong said in New York.
She said Australia would continue to provide military support to Ukraine, considering all fresh requests for aid.
Britain’s Liz Truss, addressing the UN on her first foreign trip as prime minister, vowed: “We will not rest until Ukraine prevails.”
Earlier, the Russian leader dramatically escalated his war with Ukraine, mobilising reservists and warning his country would use “all available means” to protect itself against what he claimed was a Western plot to “destroy” it.
Anti-war protesters took to the streets after the announcement, sparking a swift response by Russian police, who arrested more than 1300 people in 38 cities, according to the Russian human rights project OVD-Info.
Journalists in central Moscow saw at least 50 people detained by police in anti-riot gear, while in the former imperial capital Saint Petersburg, police surrounded and detained a small group of protesters and loaded them on to a bus as they chanted “No mobilisation!”
Prices for flights out of the country spiked, pushing the cost of a seat from Moscow to Dubai to $13,450, as potential conscripts raced to leave before they were called up to fight and, likely, die.
On the same day as Mr Putin’s mobilisation order, Ukraine announced the exchange of a record 215 prisoners with Russia, including fighters who led the defence of Mariupol’s Azovstal steelworks that became an icon of Ukrainian resistance.
Ten freed prisoners – including two from the US, five from Britain, and others from Sweden, Morocco and Croatia – were transferred to Saudi Arabia.
On the sidelines of the UN gathering in New York, French President Emmanuel Macron urged the world to “put maximum pressure” on the Russian leader, while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz denounced the call-up as “an act of desperation”.
NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg condemned Mr Putin’s “dangerous and reckless nuclear rhetoric”.
The Russian dictator’s nuclear threat followed a humiliating retreat by the Kremlin’s forces from northern Ukraine amid a fierce counteroffensive by defending troops, and efforts by Moscow to annex Ukraine’s Donbas region by holding of sham referendums.
Mr Biden decried Moscow’s nuclear sabre-rattling, accusing Mr Putin of having a “reckless disregard for the responsibilities of a non-proliferation regime”.
“If nations can pursue imperial ambitions without consequences, we put at risk everything this institution stands for,” he told assembled dignitaries, urging the UN’s members to see Russia’s “outrageous acts for what they are”.
Mr Zelensky made clear he saw no point to immediate talks, saying Russia used diplomacy only to buy time on the battlefield.
“Russia is afraid of real negotiations and does not want to fulfill any fair international obligations. It lies to everyone – as is typical for aggressors, for terrorists.”
The former actor appeared conscious of the resentment in the developing world about the focus on Ukraine. He pointed to the lack of African and Latin American representation on the Security Council as he called for Russia to be stripped of its veto power
ADDITIONAL REPORTING: AFP
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