Malta joins UN call for immediate Russian withdrawal under heightened threat of nuclear escalation

Matthew Vella reporting from New York, United Nations

It is one of the most important weeks at the United Nations as member states mark the first year of the Russian war in Ukraine in a climate of heightened risks and a more aggressive language from belligerent Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The threat of nuclear warfare or even a nuclear accident, and the global call for the prosecution of Russian leadership for aggression against Ukraine on war crimes, has bookended the Trusteeship Council and General Assembly sessions on Wednesday.

Ahead of two Security Council meetings, in which Malta leads proceedings as president, UN secretary-general Antonio Gutierrez called for all actors to step away from the brink on the use of strategic nuclear weapons.

At the General Assembly, it was Ukraine’s turn to present a resolution backed by EU member states and NATO countries amongst other G8 powers and small states, calling for prosecution of war crimes under international law. “Nobody should be fooled by Russian calls for negotiations,” warned Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba. “The intensification on the frontline shows the Russians want war, not peace... we have no choice but to keep fighting for survival... for Ukraine to give up would mean Russian atrocities would be repeated across all our territory.”

“We never wanted war. Our troops never stepped foot on other peoples’ lands. We are defending our land, our families and homes. Can anybody tell what Russians are dying for on others’ land?” Kuleba said, calling Ukraine’s actions a defence of the UN Charter. “Is there anyone in this room who would give one square metre of their territory to a bloodthirsty dictator? There is nobody.”

Malta’s voice followed a lead set by the West in demanding an immediate cessation of Russia’s war of aggression, calling on UN member states to support the resolution.

“Halting this war is the only way forward. All UN member states must ponder the gravity of the current situation and what the result of not speaking out would be, when it comes to safeguarding a rules-based international order,” foreign minister Ian Borg said of Russia’s war on civilians, attacks on homes, hospitals and schools, and the use of torture and gender-based violence.

Borg said he shared the horror of the international community on the daily accounts of violence, the latest being the discovery of mass graves from Ukrainian areas under Russian occupation.

“The discovery of mass graves in areas regained from Russian occupation  further underlines the gravity of the situation. We reiterate that all those who commit alleged violations of international humanitarian  law and human rights law must be held accountable. Malta will continue to support all efforts by Ukraine and the international community to this end.”

Kuleba’s introductory speech was countered by a call for amendments to the final resolution from Belarus, in a bid to uphold Russian language calling the war a “special military operation”, by saying the continued resistance from Ukraine was proof this was far from the annihilation Russia could visit on its neighbour with full-scale warfare.

Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, mocked what he called a hollowed-out resolution, reaffirming his country’s right to safeguard the Donbass republics’ right to self-determination – illegally annexed to Russia together with the Crimea since 2014. “We started this operation so as to stop the eight-year long war by Kiev against the people of Donetsk and Luhansk... this was a direct threat to our national security but the West has brazenly ignored our requests, and brought NATO’s military complex closer to our borders.”

Inside the General Assembly, it was the exhortations from Western countries to defend the United Nations Charter and pursue a diplomatic process to end war, that resonated the most. “Putin chose war, an illegal, unprovoked attack on Ukraine, and an assault on the United Nations,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US permanent representative to the UN said. “This vote will go down in history...  on the one-year anniversary of this war, this vote will show where the world wants to go.”

It was echoed in part by Josep Borrell, speaking for the European Union, in calling for the respect of territorial integrity and the UN Charter. “This is not a European issue. It’s not about the West vs Russia. This illegal war concerns everyone – north, south, east, west.”

“This is about saying to the invader, to the aggressor that he cannot use the law of force in order to impose its will. That is what the resolution is about: a call to the international community that should be echoed in the Kremlin in order to understand that they are losing this war militarily, they are losing this war morally and politically. And the world has to ask to stop it. To stop it and look for a peace, a just and sustainable peace, grounded in the principles of the United Nations. Nothing more but nothing less than that.”