The Secretary General of the United Nations has said that a possible expulsion of Russia from the UN Security Council is not the right step in the face of the tensions arising from the invasion of Ukraine and has emphasized that more diplomacy is needed.

I think that the secretary general António Guterres has said in the past that expelling countries from a global forum is not really the right step when we are talking about the need for more diplomacy, said the spokesman for the Secretary General of the UN, Stéphane Dujarric.

Thus, he stressed that the UN bodies will make the decisions they believe they should take in line with their procedures.

I think it’s a reminder to the world of the dangerous situation we find ourselves in. It’s a reminder of the need for all member states to respect international law, he argued.

Dujarric has stressed that Guterres has transferred his concerns to Russia regarding the procedures on the possible annexation of four Ukrainian regions the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhia scheduled for the day this very Friday.

Guterres himself warned Moscow on Thursday that this annexation has no place in the modern world and cannot be accepted, since it contravenes both Ukraine’s legal framework and international law. 

Thus, he has warned that the supposed referendums on which this step is based lack legitimacy.

In response, Russia’s permanent mission to the UN has criticized Guterres, accusing him of double standards for a direct attack on the fundamental right to self-determination expressed by the population of the Lugansk, Donestk, Kherson and Zaporizhia.

Homepage News..

The United States Embassy in Russia has issued a new security alert for its citizens, who have been asked to leave the country “immediately” despite the few existing commercial flights due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In a statement, the diplomatic legation has warned that “commercial flights are currently extremely limited, so sometimes there are none available. However, it has confirmed that land routes are still open.

If you want to leave Russia, you must make the necessary preparations as soon as possible.

The United States Embassy is very limited in offering assistance to Americans and the conditions could be increasingly limited, he insisted.

Likewise, he has indicated that the Russian government could begin to deny dual nationality to Americans and access to consular assistance to prevent their departure from the country after announcing the partial mobilization.

US citizens should not travel to Russia and those who reside in the country or are on Russian territory must leave it immediately, the Embassy stressed in a statement confirming that the authorities will offer all relevant information on the possibility to access neighboring countries from Russia.

In this sense, they have reminded their citizens that “freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly are not guaranteed in Russia for which they have urged “avoid protests and take photographs of the security forces within the framework of said events.

Russian authorities have already arrested Russian citizens who have participated in demonstrations, she said.

Homepage News..

In Ukraine’s port city of Odessa, residents have recently found themselves hiding not from the thunder of rocket attacks but from the whir of buzzing Iranian drones in the sky.

The machines have been playing an important role since Russia invaded seven months ago forming part of reconnaissance operations, missile firings, or bomb drops.

Awakened with a start on Saturday morning by a roar from the sky, Maryna Kondratieva ran to hide in the cellar with her two young children, fearing the worst.

I understand now that everything can change in five minutes, Kondratieva, who lives in a well-to-do part of the city and whose terrace overlooks the Black Sea, told AFP.

Odessa the ‘capital’ of the southwest and Ukraine’s main port had seemed largely safe from Moscow, whose troops failed to take it at the beginning of the war.

The sandbags and other checkpoints that had blighted the old town have largely been removed and bombings became less frequent.

But an increasing number of drones taking to the sky has made city residents fear a return to darker days.

In a video filmed by Kondratieva’s husband, shown to AFP, a drone continues its flight around their home, accompanied by the sound of heavy gunfire.

Kondratieva only recently returned to Ukraine from Cyprus after taking her five– and six-year olds to seek refuge with her in-laws.

The successful counter-offensive by Kyiv forces in the northeast, more sluggish in the south, had restored hope.

Hearing the buzzing noise around the house of the drone made her feel that the war had once again come extremely close to home.

Homepage News..

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Tuesday charged that Russia will destroy international diplomacy.

In a video address to the UN Security Council in New York, Zelensky said that Moscow’s representatives did not use weapons in the Security Council.

But surely nobody will be surprised if this role of the UN Security Council turns into a zone of violence on the part of the representatives of Russia, he added.

The Ukrainian president warned that it was only a matter of time before Moscow destroyed what he called the last functioning international institution.

Homepage News..

Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky has urged Russians to protest the partial military mobilisation announced in the country.

Protest! Fight! Run away! Or become Ukrainian prisoners of war! Those are the options for your survival, Zelensky said in his daily video address yesterday.

Zelensky said 55,000 Russian soldiers had already died in Ukraine.

He also told mothers and wives of Russian men called up for service: “Do not doubt this, the children of your country’s leaders will not take part in the war against Ukraine.

Those making decisions in your country protect their children. And your children aren’t even buried, he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had earlier this week decreed the mobilisation of 300,000 reservists in order to garner more soldiers for the military’s faltering campaign in Ukraine.

Addressing Ukrainians, Zelensky said Russia’s partial mobilisation was a signal of Kiev’s strength.

He said it means the war will now no longer be just a televised event for Russians but will enter real life.

Nothing will change for Ukrainians, who will continue to fight for the liberation of their country, Zelensky said with conviction.

Referring to the UN General Assembly, Zelensky said Ukraine would now be supported by an even wider circle of States in the international community.

Homepage News..

President Vladimir Putin’s thinly veiled threat to use nuclear weapons after Russian setbacks in Ukraine was dangerous and reckless rhetoric, NATO’s secretary general said on Wednesday (Sep 21), adding that the only way to end the war was to prove Moscow will not win on the battlefield.

Jens Stoltenberg also told Reuters in an interview that Putin’s announcement of Russia’s first military mobilisation since World War II would escalate the conflict and cost more lives.

But, the NATO chief added, it also represented evidence that Putin had made a big mistake with Russia’s decision to invade its neighbour on Feb 24.

Stoltenberg, speaking to Reuters Editor in Chief Alessandra Galloni in New York on the margins of the annual United Nations General Assembly meetings, said the 30-nation Western defence alliance will stay calm and not engage in that same kind of reckless and dangerous nuclear rhetoric as President Putin.

The only way to end this war is to prove that President Putin will not win on the battlefield. When he realises that, he has to sit down and negotiate a reasonable agreement with Ukraine, Stoltenberg said.

In an address to Russians earlier, Putin announced he would call up 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine and backed a plan to annex parts of the country, hinting to the West he was prepared to use nuclear weapons to defend Russia.

If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will use all available means to protect our people this is not a bluff, Putin said.

Russia possesses lots of weapons to reply, Putin added.

Putin’s speech followed mounting casualties and battlefield setbacks for Russian forces, who have been driven from areas they had captured in northeast Ukraine in a Ukrainian counter-offensive this month and are bogged down in the south.

The speech of President Putin demonstrates that the war is not going according to President Putin’s plans, Stoltenberg said.

He made a big mistake, strategic mistake, Stoltenberg said of Putin, while making a grim prediction.

More troops will escalate the conflict. That will mean more suffering, more loss of lives Ukrainian lives, but also Russian lives, Stoltenberg said.

Putin said, offering no evidence, that officials in NATO member states had threatened to use nuclear weapons against Russia, and that Russia also has various means of destruction.

NATO has not seen any change in Russia’s nuclear posture and readiness, Stoltenberg said, but added that the key was to prevent such an escalation.

We will make sure that there is no misunderstanding in Moscow about the seriousness of using nuclear weapons, And that’s the reason why we have been so clear in our communications with Russia about the unprecedented consequences, about the fact that the nuclear war cannot be won by Russia.

Stoltenberg said that although Russian troops were ill-equipped and lacked proper command and control, it was hard see the conflict ending in the short term as long as Russia refuses to accept that Ukraine is a sovereign and independent nation.

Stoltenberg expressed confidence that throughout, the Western alliance will stay united.

We are prepared for a hard winter. The winter is coming, it’s going to be hard for all of us. But the answer is not to step down and to stop supporting Ukraine.

The answer, if anything, is to step up and further support Ukraine, Stoltenberg added.

As NATO was prepared for a long haul in dealing with Putin, it was now in close dialogue with the defense industry to build back its stocks of weapons and ammunition, Stoltenberg said.

We have reduced a lot of stocks. We need stocks to be prepared. That’s the reason why we are now deeply engaging with the industry, Stoltenberg said, with the aim of ramping up production.

Stoltenberg once again expressed confidence that the NATO membership of Sweden and Finland, which applied to join the alliance in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, would be ratified, even as Turkey continued to express concerns over the move.

NATO does not see China as an adversary, Stoltenberg said, but expressed growing concern over Beijing’s increasingly closer cooperation with Moscow on military exercises and in the diplomatic domain.

China is part of the security challenges we need to face today, Stoltenberg said.

Stoltenberg, who previously served as Norway’s prime minister, has held the post of NATO secretary-general since 2014. NATO allies in March extended his mandate in the post to September 2023.

Homepage News..

Diplomatic efforts by French President Emmanuel Macron in response to the war in Ukraine were a failure and “deeply harmful” for Kyiv, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former NATO secretary-general, said in an interview published on Friday (Sep 23).

It was not a success, Rasmussen, a former Danish prime minister who was one of the world’s most-senior diplomats until he left the transatlantic defence alliance in 2014, told French magazine Le Point.

His comments come after criticism, especially in eastern Europe, about how Macron kept an open line with Russian President Vladimir Putin with direct phone calls even after the invasion of Ukraine and has warned against humiliating Russia.

Macron astonished us at the beginning of the crisis with his, to say the least, unique and critical statement that Putin should not be humiliated and offered an exit ramp. Such statements were disastrous and deeply harmful, he added.

The French presidential office did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

However, Rasmussen’s broadside comes at a time Macron is recalibrating his message and striking a firmer tone against Moscow.

In a speech delivered at the United Nations General Assembly, the French leader reiterated his belief that world leaders needed to keep up the dialogue with Russia, adding that he would again talk to Putin in the coming days to address the safety situation linked to nuclear reactors situated in Ukraine’s war zones.

But according to observers, Macron’s UN speech, in which he accused Russia of a modern day imperialism and urged developing nations to side against Moscow, marked a shift in tone.

Macron stated that peace talks can only work if Ukraine’s sovereignty is respected, its territory liberated and its security protected.

Russia must now understand that it cannot impose its will by military means, said Macron.

He has weakened international cohesion, and I think he is now regretting this and trying to regain the initiative, he said in the interview.

Homepage News..

Russia prepared the path for the legal annexation of large swaths of Ukraine on Tuesday, escalating the Kremlin’s conflict with Kyiv.

Pro-Moscow officials in four occupied Ukrainian regions, totaling 15% of the country’s territory, announced preparations for referendums leading to annexation later this week.

Vladimir Putin was scheduled to address the Russian people in a televised address on Tuesday, but it was postponed without reason.

The Kremlin has previously warned that it would protect any acquired territory by any means necessary, raising the risk of nuclear weapons in reaction to Western-backed Ukrainian efforts to regain the area.

The referendums were dubbed a sham by international leaders assembled at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Putin has also become increasingly isolated during meetings with China, India, and Turkey, all of whom expressed concern over the crisis.

Ukraine denounced the referendums as an effort by Moscow to retake the initiative following catastrophic war setbacks.

The occupants are plainly in a panic, stated President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukrainian leaders have stated that the counter-offensive will continue even if Russia formally annexes new territories.

Homepage News..

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday (Sep 21) said that plans announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin to declare a partial military mobilisation linked to the war in Ukraine is a “mistake” and will further isolate the country.

His decision is bad news for Russian people, young people and will increase isolation of his county, Macron said in New York where he attends various meeting linked to the United Nations General Assembly.

Putin earlier ordered Russian mobilisation to fight in Ukraine and made a thinly veiled threat to using nuclear weapons, in what NATO called a “reckless” act of desperation in the face of Russia’s looming defeat.

Nuclear powers now needed to act responsibly, Macron said in his first comments after Putin’s announcement. He spoke after talks with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Homepage News..