UN Security Council Meets After Russia Attacks Nuclear Plant
The U.N. Security Council was briefed in an emergency session Friday by the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency after Russian troops shelled Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant and took it over. Rafael Grossi said the projectile that hit the Zaporizhzhia facility and sparked a fire did not damage any of the reactors and they are functioning normally.
IAEA Chief: Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant Safe After Russian Strike
Russia Isolated in Historic UN General Assembly Vote
Russia found it had just four friends in the international community Wednesday, when Belarus, Eritrea, North Korea and Syria were the only states willing to vote against a resolution condemning Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. China, Iran, Cuba and other Moscow stalwarts chose to abstain in the vote that called for the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.
UN General Assembly Overwhelmingly Condemns Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
Human Rights Council to Open Investigation Into War Crimes
Russia was further isolated at the U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday, when the 47-member body voted to set up an international independent commission of inquiry to investigate possible war crimes and human rights violations in Ukraine. Thirty-two members voted for establishing the commission, 13 abstained, and only Eritrea and Russia voted against it.
UN Council Establishes Commission of Inquiry on Russian Invasion of Ukraine
In brief
— Ukrainians and third-country nationals have been pouring out of Ukraine this week as Russia steps up its air and land war. As of Friday evening, the total stood at more than 1.2 million mostly women, children and elderly people who have sought safety in Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia, Romania and other European countries. A small number have also gone to Russia and its ally Belarus. The number of displaced could rise to 10 million, the U.N. warned Thursday, nearly half of them refugees.
— The United States notified a dozen diplomats from Russia’s U.N. mission and one Russian U.N. staffer Monday that they are being expelled for espionage. They have until March 7 to leave the country. Russia’s U.N. ambassador said it was a “hostile action” by the U.S. government and violates Washington’s obligations as the host country of the United Nations.
Quote of note
“Indeed, every day provides us with newer and newer evidence that it is not only Ukraine under Russian attack. It is Europe. It is the entire world. It is humanity. And finally, it is the future of the next generations.”
— Ukrainian U.N. envoy Sergiy Kyslytsya, during an emergency Security Council meeting Friday following an attack on Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant.
What we are watching next week
France and Mexico are negotiating the text of a draft U.N. Security Council resolution calling for safe and unhindered aid access for humanitarians in Ukraine. A vote is likely early next week. But, like a previous draft resolution condemning Russia’s invasion, Moscow could deploy its veto to block the measure when it comes for a vote.
Source: Voice of America