The British Defense Secretary expects the war to continue for at least another year on the day the United Nations largely passed a resolution demanding Russia to withdraw troops from Ukraine.
The diplomatic initiative, sponsored by countries supporting Ukraine, aimed to bring together as many countries as possible in a text that was as uncontroversial as possible: it defends Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, calls for an immediate end to the fighting and demands that Russia immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraws its troops from the country.
In the end, 193 countries adopted the resolution Principles of the United Nations Charter for a Comprehensive, Just and Lasting Peace in Ukraine. 141 Member States, seven voted against and 32 abstained. Among the countries that abstained are China, India or South Africa, as well as Mozambique and Angola. In the explanation of vote preceding the count, Angolan diplomat Maria de Jesus Ferreira stated that her country did not agree with the ninth paragraph of the resolution. It pushes for accountability for war crimes through fair and independent investigations and prosecutions.
Compared to the previous resolutions on the war in Ukraine passed by the General Assembly, this received the same number of votes as the first, dated March 2, which called for a ceasefire and withdrawal of troops, and many more votes , 94, then the resolution of November 14. resolution calling for Russia to be held accountable, including the payment of reparations.
There were some expectations about the mood, especially with regard to the countries of the so-called global south. Russia maintains strong ties with many African and Latin American countries, with Moscow seen as the heir to the USSR, which financed the anti-colonial struggle. Opening the session, the UN Secretary-General condemned the February 24, 2022 attack on Ukraine. “This invasion is an affront to our collective conscience,” said António Guterres, who called the anniversary “a sombre milestone for the people of Ukraine and the international community.”
“Never in recent history has the line between good and evil been so clear. One country just wants to live. The other wants to kill and destroy,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said at the start of the debate. The response from Russia’s diplomat to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, was along the lines of the Kremlin, which called Ukraine a “neo-Nazi” and said the West wants to “plunge the whole world into the abyss of war” in order to maintain hegemony.
“Meat grinder”
British minister Ben Wallace said in an interview with LBC radio that the war will unfold within a year because Russia has shown “a total disregard not only for the lives of the people of Ukraine, but also for its own soldiers” . estimated that 188,000 Russian servicemen died or were wounded. “If someone crosses the line who thinks it’s okay to do that to their own people and they’re basically running a meat grinder for an army, I think they [Putin] will not stop”.
Wallace, who was the leader in creating a coalition of countries with the aim of providing military aid to Ukraine, which was later led by the US Secretary of Defense at meetings at the Ramstein base, also said Russian military targets failed , with “97% of the army involved” and “two thirds of the tanks destroyed”, so in his view, despite the fact that the war may continue, “the Russian army can do nothing or much more”.
Source: DN
