United Nations. The President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, He asked his allies this Wednesday to provide him with more air and missile defenses in response to the latest attacks carried out by Russia, which he accused of trying to destroy the country’s energy infrastructure to make millions of people suffer during the winter. .
Zelensky spoke by videoconference at an emergency meeting of the Security Council of the UNrequested by his country after the Russian Army launched a new massive missile attack against kyiv and other Ukrainian cities that left several dead and thirty injured.
“We need effective and modern air and missile defense systems,” said the Ukrainian president, who demanded a firm response from the international community to the Russian “terror.”
Zelensky accused Russia of attacking energy infrastructure to use winter as a weapon against the country’s population, something he described as a “crime against humanity.”
The Ukrainian leader called on the Security Council to clearly condemn these tactics and criticized the fact that Russia, a party to the conflict, is allowed to block any action in that body thanks to its right of veto.
“We cannot be held hostage by an international terrorist,” he said, referring to the Russian state.
Several countries, led by the United States, made similar claims about recent attacks launched by Russia against power plants and other key infrastructure.
According to US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Russian President Vladimir Putin appears “determined to reduce Ukraine’s energy facilities to rubble.”
“He’s decided that if he can’t take Ukraine by force, he’s going to try to freeze the country into surrender,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
The UN warned this Wednesday that there is a risk of a “catastrophic” winter, with millions of people without electricity, heating, water and other basic services.
Meanwhile, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, assured that his country is carrying out “precision” attacks against facilities used for military purposes and accused Ukraine of damaging its own infrastructure.
In addition, Nebenzia attributed all the missiles that fell in residential areas to Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses and said that this situation is also the responsibility of the United States and its allies for having provided such weapons to the kyiv Army.
“Their senseless supply of weapons to Ukraine has led to the death of peaceful inhabitants, not only of Donbas, but of Ukrainian cities,” the diplomat told Western powers.
In addition, the Minister of the Interior of Ukraine, Denys Monastyrskyi, reported that this Wednesday there were three Russian missile attacks on high-rise buildings that have caused ten deaths.
