Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, March 3: Amidst a call from the United Nations General Assembly asking Russia to “immediately, completely and unconditionally” withdraw from Ukraine, Russia on Thursday showed its readiness to resume talks with Ukraine to end the fighting even as its forces continued to experience stiff resistance on the ground its bid to capture the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday said Moscow was ready for talks to end the fighting in Ukraine but would continue to press its effort to destroy Ukraine’s military infrastructure.
But in a significant development, the International Criminal Court prosecutor has launched a probe that could target senior officials believed responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide amid a rising civilian death toll and widespread destruction of property during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service has said over 2,000 civilians have died since the Russian invasion while over one million people are estimated to have fled Ukraine as Russian forces pressed their assaults on the country’s second-largest city and two strategic seaports.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Russia that it would have to pay for everything it was destroying in Ukraine as Russian forces continue to encircle key Ukrainian cities supported by massive missile and rocket attacks. In a video message he said, “Russia will pay” for everything. He said he would work to rebuild Ukraine after the war, indicating a resistance phase would come next if Russian forces manage to completely take hold of Ukraine. “We have nothing to lose but our own freedom,” Zelensky said, adding Ukraine was receiving daily arms supplies from its international allies.
“We will restore every house, every street, every city and we say to Russia: learn the word of reparations and contributions. You will reimburse us for everything you did against our state, against every Ukrainian in full,” Zelensky said.
India, once again, abstained as the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voted 141-5 (35 abstentions) to condemn Russia’s invasion into Ukraine calling on Moscow to unconditionally withdraw its troops. Voting on the resolution occurred after representatives of more than 120 countries, territories and associations, made remarks over two days at a special emergency session of the UNGA.
The General Assembly session was convened after a similar resolution failed in the UN Security Council due to Russia exercising its veto power. Like in the UNSC, India abstained from voting into the UNGA also, but the resolution, co-sponsored by 96 countries and needed two thirds of those present and voting to support it, was passed. It unequivocally condemned the February 24 ‘special military operation’ [invasion] by Russia. It says no territories acquired through force will be recognised and calls for Russia to “immediately, completely and unconditionally” withdraw from Ukraine.
Shortly before the vote in the UNGA, prime minister Narendra Modi had spoken with the Russian president Vladimir Putin and discussed the “safe passage” for the evacuation of the Indians stranded in Ukraine.
On the ground, Russian forces have taken the Black Sea port of Kherson in southern Ukraine, the first major city to fall after a string of setbacks for Moscow. They also pound and encircle the strategic port city of Mariupol, which is without water or electricity.
The UN refugee agency said more than one million people have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded with the number rising rapidly. Russia’s Defence Ministry also announced “humanitarian corridors” for civilians to leave the most battered Ukrainian cities including Kyiv, Kharkiv and Mariupol. The EU is expected to rapidly approve a protection mechanism for war refugees fleeing Ukraine and to also set up a humanitarian hub in Romania, officials said. The moves by the European Union came in parallel to its muscular sanctions on Russia imposed in successive waves over the course of the invasion, now in its eighth day.
Approximately 8,000 Indians, mainly students, are still stranded in Ukraine, according to the government. India has been evacuating its citizens through special flights from Ukraine’s western neighbours since February 24.
Announcing Moscow’s readiness to resume talks with Ukraine by Thursday evening, Lavrov said Russia would continue to press its effort to destroy Ukraine’s military infrastructure. Lavrov said the Russian delegation submitted its demands to Ukrainian negotiators earlier this week and is now waiting for Kyiv’s response in talks set for Thursday. He added that the West has continuously armed Ukraine, trained its troops and built up bases there to turn Ukraine into a bulwark against Russia.
The International Criminal Court prosecutor has launched an investigation that could target senior officials believed responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide amid a rising civilian death toll and widespread destruction of property during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan announced the probe late Wednesday night after dozens of the court’s member states asked him to take action. After informing the court’s judges of his decision to open an investigation that covers all sides in the conflict, Khan said, “Our work in the collection of evidence has now commenced.”
Russian shelling and attacks on civilian populations killed 34 civilians in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region in the past 24 hours. The governor of the Ukraine-controlled eastern Donetsk region said the port city of Mariupol, one of the first targets of the Russian invasion, was without electricity or water supplies.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its second week on Thursday an apparent tactical failure so far, with its main assault force stalled for days on a highway north of Kyiv and other advances halted at the outskirts of cities it is bombing into wastelands. Shovelling sand into bags and collecting bottles to make Molotov cocktails, volunteers in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro are preparing for an onslaught from invading Russian troops.
While abstaining from voting in the UNGA, a strategy India maintained all through the UN sessions to maintain a right balance between Russia and the United States, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, TS Tirumurti, said the “safe and uninterrupted passage” of Indian nationals, especially students, was India’s “foremost priority”. Calling for an “immediate ceasefire” and humanitarian access to conflict areas, Tirumurti said India hoped the second round of talks between Russia and Ukraine would yield positive results.
Russia’s actions have left India in an uncomfortable position as it attempts to balance its interests with both Moscow and the West. Given its experiences in its own neighbourhood, with China and Pakistan, India is also wary of the implications of not condemning one country unilaterally attempting to change the borders it shares with another. “India urges that all Member States demonstrate their commitment to the principles of the UN Charter, to international law and respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states,” Tirumurti said.
A number of countries in India’s neighbourhood supported the resolution — Bhutan, Nepal, and the Maldives, for instance. Afghanistan, currently run by a militant organisation (the Taliban), and Myanmar, currently ruled by a junta, also voted in favour of it. Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, like India, abstained. China also abstained. But the United Arab Emirates, which had abstained from the UNSC vote, voted for the resolution in the General Assembly. Its representative said that countries “identify diplomatic off ramps” to end the conflict.
The Kremlin on Thursday praised Russian troops fighting in Ukraine as heroes who would go down in history and described the deaths of soldiers there as a tragedy. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said President Vladimir Putin would convene Russia’s Security Council later on Thursday but did not say what the group of top state officials and heads of defence and security agencies would discuss. In a briefing with reporters, Peskov dismissed speculation that Russian authorities plans to introduce martial law following its invasion of Ukraine or that they will prevent men leaving Russia.
The British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the West needed to ensure the Russian economy was crippled so that President Vladimir Putin was unable to continue his invasion of Ukraine, “We need to … degrade the Russian economy,” Ms. Truss said during a news conference in Lithuania. “We need to make sure … that the Russian economy is crippled so it is unable to continue to fund Putin and the war machine.”
Ukraine is able to launch counter-attacks against invading Russian forces even as it defends itself, a military adviser to Ukrainian President said on Thursday. “Help to us is increasing every minute and the strength of the enemy is decreasing every minute. We’re not only defending but also counter-attacking,” he said in a televised briefing.
Meanwhile, the World Bank announced stopping all its programmes in Russia and Belarus with “immediate effect” in response to Moscow’s military operations in Ukraine and “hostilities” against the people of the war-torn country. “The World Bank Group has not approved any new loans to or investments in Russia since 2014. There has also been no new lending approved to Belarus since mid-2020,” the Washington-based global lender said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and hostilities against the people of Ukraine, the World Bank Group has stopped all its programmes in Russia and Belarus with immediate effect,” the statement said.
The Ukrainian diplomats formerly based in Moscow arrived in Latvia on Wednesday evening, Latvia’s foreign minister said. “Latvia welcomes Ukrainian diplomats who left Moscow and crossed Latvian-Russian border last night,” minister Edgars Rinkevics tweeted on Thursday. Latvia said on Saturday it would give refuge to the diplomats after receiving their plea for help.