Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations Sergiy Kyslytsya lambasted Russia during a meeting of the U.N. Security Council Wednesday night and called on its ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, to give up his seat as president of the council over its attack on Ukraine. (The presidency of the U.N. Security Council rotates on a monthly basis among the 15 members. February 2022 is Russia’s month.)
“I was intending to ask the Russian ambassador to confirm on the record that the Russian troops will not start firing at Ukrainians today and go ahead with the offensive,” Kyslytsya said. “It became useless 48 minutes ago, because about 48 minutes ago, your president declared war on Ukraine.”
The Ukrainian ambassador called for Nebenzia to state “on the record” that Russian forces at this moment are not bombing Ukrainian cities, and troops are not moving into the country.
“You have a smartphone. You can call Lavrov right now,” he said, in reference to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Kyslytsya continued, “If you are not in a position to give an affirmative answer, the Russian Federation ought to relinquish responsibilities of the president of the Security Council, pass these responsibilities on to a legitimate member of the Security Council, a member that is respectful of the charter.”
The Ukrainian ambassador told Security Council members it’s “too late” to speak about an escalation of Russian aggression against Ukraine.
“The Russian president declared the war on the record. Should I play the video of your president, ambassador? Should I do that? You can confirm it,” he told the Russian envoy. “It is the responsibility of this body to stop the war, so I call on every one of you to do everything possible to stop the war.”
In response to Kyslytsya’s remarks, Nebenzia declined to disturb Lavrov and rejected the characterization of Russia’s actions as “a war.”
“This isn’t called a war — this is called a special military opportunity in the Donbas,” he said.
Kyslytsya reiterated his call for Russia’s representative at the U.N. to relinquish his duties and declared “There is no purgatory for war criminals. They go straight to hell, ambassador.”
