At a United Nations Security Council meeting Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said “the very international order we’ve gathered here to uphold is being shredded before our eyes” by Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The world “can’t let President (Vladimir) Putin get away with it,” Blinken told his fellow diplomats.
His remarks came amid a week of escalatory actions by Moscow, including the mobilization of tens of thousands of troops and planned “sham referenda” in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.
“That President Putin picked this week, as most of the world gathers at the United Nations, to add fuel to the fire he started shows his utter contempt and disdain for the UN Charter, the UN General Assembly, and this Council,” Blinken said.
“President Putin is making his choice. Now it’s up to all of our countries to make ours. Tell President Putin to stop the horror he started," Blinken continued. "Tell him to stop putting his interests above the interests of the rest of the world, including his own people. Tell him to stop debasing this Council and everything it stands for."
Blinken said the areas of Ukraine that were occupied by Russia offered a view into that “less peaceful world,” noting, “wherever the Russian tide recedes, we’ve discovered the horror that’s left in its wake” — Bucha, Irpin, Izyum, where mass graves have been discovered, survivors have recounted acts of torture.
The top US diplomat called on Russia to cease its nuclear saber rattling, calling Putin’s threat to use “all weapon systems available” to Russia “all the more menacing given Russia’s intention to annex large swaths of Ukraine in the days ahead.”
Blinken also stressed the impact the war was having globally on food security, and called out Russian disinformation on WHO-approved vaccine effectiveness.