UN Secretary General Guterres: “This conflict must stop now”
(Eagle News) – United Nations Secretary General once again appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin, this time asking him to “bring back” his troops to Russia to avoid devastating consequences of a war in Ukraine that would have an impact globally.
“This is the saddest moment in my tenure the Secretary General of the United Nations. I started this meeting of the Security Council addressing President Putin and telling him from the bottom of my heart ‘stop your troops from an offensive to Ukraine. Give peace a chance because too many
people have already died,” Guterres said on Thursday, February 24, just after Putin had announced the start of Russia’s military actions in Ukraine.
The Russian president also asked Ukrainian troops to lay down their arms.
In his speech, Putin said that members of Ukrainian army who would would decide not to fight “can leave the combat zone without hindrance.”
-‘High precision weapons” hitting military infrastructure in Ukraine, says Russia-
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, high-precision weapons are hitting and incapacitating military infrastructure, air defense facilities, military airfields and the aviation of the Ukrainian army.
Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations told an emergency Security Council meeting late Wednesday (Thursday morning in Russia) that Moscow’s military operation against Ukraine was targeting “the junta” in power in Kiyv.
“I wanted to say in conclusion that we aren’t being aggressive against the Ukrainian people but against the junta that is in power in Kiyv,” said Vassily Nebenzia.
The UN chief Guterres said that because of the present circumstances, he must change his appeal.
“And I say President Putin in the name of humanity bring your troops back to Russia. In the name of humanity, do not allow to start in Europe what could be the worst war since the beginning of the century, with consequences not only devastating for Ukraine, not only tragic for the Russian Federation, but with an impact we can not even foresee in relation to the consequences for the global economy in a moment, we are when we are emerging from the COVID,” he said in his speech.
-War does not make any sense- UN chief-
Guterres said: “What is clear for me is that this war doesn’t make any sense.”
He said that if Russia’s military actions will lead to a “generalized war, it would be difficult to forecast how dramatic it will be in the number of people who will die, in the number of people (who) will be displaced in the number of people who will lose hope in relation to the future.”
The UN secretary general warned that if Russia’s actions on Ukraine will not stop, Europe will experience “a level of suffering” it had not known for a long time.
A war in this part of Europe would lead to instability in international markets which would be catastrophic coming on the heels of the still lingering Covid-19 pandemic that had killed nearly six million people worldwide.
“This conflict must stop now,” Guterres said.
(Eagle News Service)
