Russia under pressure as G20 voices unease over Ukraine war
Moscow rains missiles across the war-torn country as signs emerge of further retreat; power knocked out to half of Kyiv
We have to find a way to return to the path of ceasefire and diplomacy in Ukraine. The need of the hour is to show concrete and collective resolve to ensure peace, harmony and security in the world
Narendra Modi
India Prime Minister
Russia faced mounting diplomatic pressure on Tuesday to end its war in Ukraine, as G20 allies and critics alike rued the painful global impact of nearly nine months of conflict.
A draft communique obtained by AFP showed the world's 20 leading economies coming together to condemn the war's effects, but still divided on apportioning blame.
The summit has shown that even Russia's allies have limited patience with a conflict that has inflated food and energy prices worldwide and raised the spectre of nuclear war.
Risking diplomatic isolation, Russia was forced to agree that the "war in Ukraine" — which Moscow refuses to call a war— has "adversely impacted the global economy".
It also agreed that "the use or
We have no other option, collaboration is needed to save the world. G20 must be the catalyst for inclusive economic recovery. We should not divide the world into parts. We
must not allow the world to fall into another Cold War Joko Widodo
Indonesian President
(China and US leaders) can save thousands of lives by pressing for a Russian withdrawal from Ukraine. I am convinced now is the time when the Russian destructive war must and can be stopped.”
Volodymyr Zelensky
Ukrainian President
All problems are on the Ukrainian side that categorically refuses to hold any talks and comes up with conditions obviously unrealistic and inadequate to this situation.”
Sergey Lavrov
Russian Foreign Minister
threat of use of nuclear weapons" is "inadmissible", after months of President Vladimir Putin making such threats.
The embattled Russian leader has skipped the summit, staying at home to reckon with a string of embarrassing battlefield defeats and a grinding campaign that threatens the future of his regime.
Rubbing salt in Russia's wounds, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky — fresh from a visit to liberated Kherson — delivered an impassioned video appeal to G20 leaders.
Zelensky told leaders from China's Xi Jinping to America's Joe Biden that they could "save thousands of lives" by pressing for a Russian withdrawal.
"I am convinced now is the time when the Russian destructive war must and can be stopped," he said, sporting his now-trademark army-green T-shirt. Putin's delegate, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, whose summit preparation was disrupted by two hospital health checks for an undiagnosed ailment, remained in the room throughout Zelensky's address, diplomatic sources said.
His most notable diplomatic victory was an acknowledgement in the communique that while "most members" of the G20 condemned Putin's invasion, "there were other views and different assessments".
Leaders must now sign off on the final text before the summit ends on Wednesday.
"All problems are with the Ukrainian side, which is categorically refusing negotiations and putting forward conditions that are obviously unrealistic," Lavrov told reporters.
The foreign minister had a dinner with leaders before departing on Tuesday. The United States and its allies used the summit to broaden the coalition against Russia's attack and scotch Moscow's claims of a war of East versus West.
Many "see Russia's war in Ukraine as the root source of immense economic and humanitarian suffering in the world", said a senior US official.
Russia's G20 allies China, India and South Africa refrain from publicly criticising Putin's war, and the draft joint statement is replete with diplomatic fudges and linguistic gymnastics.
But it gives a growing sense of the worldwide impact of the war.
G20 members Argentina and Turkey are among the nations worst hit by food inflation worldwide, but there was scarcely a country around the table unaffected.
"The war is affecting everyone," said Argentine Foreign Minister
In the northern hemisphere the merchants of death broker lethal arms sales, but in the southern hemisphere food is costly or scarce — what kills are not bullets or missiles, but poverty and hunger.”
Santiago Cafiero
Santiago Cafiero. "In the northern hemisphere the merchants of death broker lethal arms sales, but in the southern hemisphere food is costly or scarce — what kills are not bullets or missiles, but poverty and hunger."
There was also a hint at growing Chinese unease with Russia's prosecution of the war when presidents Xi and Biden met late on Monday.
"It's clear that the Russians are very isolated," said one Western official. "I think some countries engaged with Russia but... I did not see any gestures of great solidarity."
Meanwhile, Russia rained missiles on cities across Ukraine on Tuesday after its humiliating withdrawal from Kherson, even as signs grew that its retreating forces were pulling even further back from the Dnipro River in the south.
Air raid sirens blared and explosions rang out in nearly a dozen major cities, in what Ukraine said was the heaviest wave of missile strikes in nearly nine months of war, echoing a pattern in recent weeks of Moscow lashing out far from the front after battlefield losses.
A Ukrainian Air Force spokesman said Russia had launched around 100 missiles into Ukraine by early evening, more than on Oct. 10, previously described as the largest number since the opening salvoes of the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the main target of the missile flurry was energy infrastructure, as before.
“It's clear what the enemy wants. He will not achieve this,” he said in a video address on the Telegram messaging app. Kyiv has said such strikes only stiffen its resolve to repel Russian forces that invaded in February. — afp, reuters