The Kremlin said no one could force it to make peace and warned that it would be a “fatal mistake” to try, after Ukraine urged the international community to increase pressure on Russia to end its devastating 2½-year invasion of its pro-western neighbour.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy made speeches at the United Nations in New York in a bid to attract more diplomatic and military support, as Russia claimed to have seized more settlements in its grinding advance through eastern Ukraine.
“From the very first second of this war, Russia has been doing things that cannot possibly be justified under the UN Charter. Every destroyed Ukrainian city, every burned village ... serves as proof that Russia is committing an international crime,” Mr Zelenskiy told the UN Security Council.
“And that’s why this war can’t simply ‘fade away’. That’s why this war can’t be calmed by talks. Action is needed ... [Vladimir] Putin has broken so many international norms and rules that he won’t stop on his own,” he added, referring to Russia’s veteran leader.
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“Russia can only be forced into peace. And that is exactly what’s needed – forcing Russia into peace as the sole aggressor in this war, the sole violator of the UN Charter.”
Mr Zelenskiy hopes to secure the backing of the US and other key allies for a “victory plan” that he will present to US president Joe Biden this week. At the same time, he is seeking global support for a “peace formula” under which Russia would be forced to withdraw its invasion force, pay reparations and face justice for alleged war crimes.
“A position based on an attempt to force Russia into peace is an absolutely fatal mistake. It is impossible to force Russia into peace. Russia is a supporter of peace, provided that its basic security is assured and the goals of the ‘special military operation’ are achieved,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, using Moscow’s official term for its invasion of Ukraine.
“In my view, such a position is a fatal, systemic mistake. It is deeply misguided and will inevitably have consequences for the Kyiv regime,” he added.
Mr Zelenskiy has not revealed details of the “victory plan” that he will discuss with Mr Biden, but he has repeatedly pressed the US to let Ukraine use western-supplied missiles to strike military targets deeper inside Russia, and for a formal invitation for Ukraine to join Nato.
Russia regards both those steps as unacceptable, and has warned western powers that deeper strikes would make them a direct party to the war.
[ Ukraine facing ‘decisive’ months in war as it seeks more US supportOpens in new window ]
Mr Putin warned the West after a meeting of his country’s security council on Wednesday that Russia could use nuclear weapons if it was struck with conventional missiles, and that Moscow would consider any assault on it supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack.
The decision to change Russia’s official nuclear doctrine is the Kremlin’s answer to deliberations in the United States and Britain about whether or not to give Ukraine permission to fire conventional Western missiles into Russia.
“It is proposed that aggression against Russia by any non-nuclear state, but with the participation or support of a nuclear state, be considered as their joint attack on the Russian Federation,” said Mr Putin.
“The conditions for Russia’s transition to the use of nuclear weapons are also clearly fixed,” said Mr Putin, adding that Moscow would consider such a move if it detected the start of a massive launch of missiles, aircraft or drones against it.
Russia reserved the right to also use nuclear weapons if it or ally Belarus were the subject of aggression, including by conventional weapons, said Mr Putin.
Mr Zelenskiy told the UN General Assembly that Russia’s occupation of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station – Europe’s biggest – and its alleged intention of disrupting power to the country’s three other atomic plants could trigger a nuclear disaster.
“A day like that must never come, and Moscow needs to understand this, and this depends in part on your determination to put pressure on the aggressor,” he said. “If, God forbid, Russia causes a nuclear disaster at one of our nuclear power plants, radiation will not respect state borders.”
Russia said on Wednesday that it had seized the villages of Hostre and Hryhorivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, and a Moscow-installed official in the area said the town of Vuhledar was also now under Russian control.
Vadym Filashkin, the governor of Kyiv-controlled parts of Donetsk region, said Ukrainian forces were still defending Vuhledar. - Additional reporting Reuters
