The US and its Western allies clashed with Russia at the UN Security Council on Wednesday over responsibility for a deadly missile attack in Poland near the Ukrainian border, an event which the UN political chief called a “terrifying reminder of the absolute need to prevent any further escalation.” » of the nine-month war in Ukraine. US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Council: “This tragedy would never have happened but for Russia’s wanton invasion of Ukraine and its recent missile attacks against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure.” Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia hit back, accusing Ukraine and Poland of trying to “provoke a direct conflict between Russia and NATO”. The US and Albania had asked the council to be briefed on the situation in Ukraine last week, and the meeting was dominated by Tuesday’s missile attack in Poland that killed two farm workers. Nebenzia pointed to statements by Ukraine’s president and Polish officials that initially indicated Russia was responsible. The NATO chief and Poland’s president said on Wednesday there was no indication it was a deliberate attack and that it was likely a Soviet-era missile fired from Ukraine as it deflected Russian missiles and drones that knocked out its power grid and hit buildings of residences. UN Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo told the council it was Russia’s “most intense shelling” since its February 24 invasion of Ukraine, and the impact “can only worsen over the coming winter months.” He reiterated that attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure are prohibited under international law, noted that “heavy fighting” continued in eastern Donetsk and Luhansk, and told council members “there is no end to the war.” He also warned that “as long as it continues, the risks of potentially catastrophic spillover remain very real.” Thomas-Greenfield, the US envoy, called the barrage of more than 90 missiles that fell on Kyiv and other cities and targeted devastating civilian infrastructure a “deliberate tactic” by Russian President Vladimir Putin. “He seems to have decided that if he cannot take Ukraine by force, he will try to freeze the country into submission,” he said. Poland’s UN ambassador Krzysztof Szczerski told the Council “these innocent people would not have been killed if Russia had not gone to war against Ukraine”. And Britain’s UN ambassador Barbara Woodward said: “We should be clear that this is a tragedy that undoubtedly stems from Russia’s illegal and unjustified invasion. And it is an inhumane attack on civilians throughout Ukraine. But Russia’s Nebenzia said he wanted to remind Russia’s accusers that what Moscow calls its “special military operation” would not be needed if the Minsk agreements after the 2014 turmoil in Ukraine required a degree of self-rule for Russians. -The supported separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east had been met and had not led to an eight-year war. Addressing the West, Nebenzia also said there would have been no military action “if you had not intervened and supplied Ukraine with arms and ammunition” and encouraged Ukraine “to fight for peace in realistic terms instead of feeding its feverish fantasies about the possibility of victory over Russia, for the sake of which the Zelensky regime is pointlessly throwing tens of thousands of its soldiers into the meat grinder.” Regarding the missile attacks, Nebenzia said: “If you were reacting to the terrorist actions of the Ukrainian special forces against Russia, we would not be forced to carry out precision strikes on infrastructure.” “But because you act as you do, while the Kiev regime takes credit for non-existent military prowess, we are forced to achieve the goals set for the special military operation by weakening Ukraine’s military potential,” he said. Britain’s Woodward strongly disagreed, telling the council: “We have no doubt that Ukraine will prevail in the face of Russian aggression.” Pointing to the Russian withdrawal from the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, he said: “The liberation of Kherson shows the strength, courage and determination of the Ukrainian people to defend their right to sovereignty of equality and territorial integrity guaranteed by the UN Charter ».
