UN calls for halt to ‘use of force’
General Assembly resolution demands Russia ‘immediately withdraw military forces’ from Ukraine
The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution that “demands that Russia immediately cease the use of force against Ukraine”.
The vote was overwhelmingly approved by 141 countries, 5 opposing it, and 35 abstaining, including China, out of the 193 members of the organization. The five countries that voted against the resolution are Belarus, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Eritrea, Russia and Syria.
The resolution, which was greeted by a round of applause, comes after more than two days of interventions at the UN rostrum. It demands that Moscow “immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all its military forces” from Ukraine and condemns Russia’s decision to increase the alert level of its nuclear forces.
While some Western media reports complain about China and India not denouncing Russia, “India and China are true to their civilizational core (that) peace and harmony must play a proactive role in saving the world from a precipice,” said Karori Singh, former director and emeritus fellow of the South Asia Studies Centre at India’s University of Rajasthan.
According to him, the two countries can impress upon “warring parties for cessation of hostilities/ violence and that development partnership must prevail over politico-strategic or military alliances in the larger interest of humanity and posterity.”
The second round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine was delayed from March 2 to March 3 or later. The first round of the negotiations, which lasted about five hours, concluded on March 1 in Belarus’ Gomel region, with no clear breakthrough. Analysts are not optimistic about any results.
Russian airborne troops landed in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on March 2, the same day United States President Joe Biden announced the latest sanctions that ban Russian flights from US airspace.
“Russian airborne troops landed in Kharkiv,” the Ukrainian army said in a statement on social media network Telegram in the morning, adding that there is an ongoing fight between Russian and Ukrainian troops.
Kharkiv, a largely Russian-speaking city near the Russian border, is the second-largest city in Ukraine and has a population of around 1.4 million. It has been a target of Russian forces since President Vladimir Putin launched on Feb 24 a “special military operation” in Ukraine, which intensified on March 1.
According to Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, a fire broke out on March 2 in the barracks of a flight school in the city following an airstrike.
“There are practically no areas left in Kharkiv where an artillery shell has not hit yet,” Gerashchenko said.
Russia has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that its forces have taken control of the territory around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said March 2.
Grossi said in a statement that Russian diplomats in Vienna told the IAEA that personnel at the Zaporizhzhia plant — Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant — have continued their work on providing nuclear safety and monitoring radiation in the normal mode of operation, and “the radiation levels remain normal”.
In the capital Kyiv, Russian missiles hit the city’s iconic TV tower as well as surrounding areas. Ukrainian officials said the attack killed five people.
In Kherson, a city on the Black Sea, Russian forces took control of the railway station and the port overnight, Mayor Igor Kolykhayev told local media.
In Tallinn, capital of Estonia, visiting Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Jens Stoltenberg stressed diplomatic efforts to solve the ongoing Ukraine crisis.
The Council of the European Union on March 2 imposed sanctions on an additional 22 individuals and further restrictions on trade against Belarus over its role in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The EU council had already listed 20 members of the Belarusian military in the same context in February.
The US has joined the EU and Canada in banning Russian aircraft from making flights to the US or from traveling over the US on its way to other destinations.
Apple, ExxonMobil and Boeing announced in rapid succession steps to withdraw or freeze business operations in Russia. US credit card giants Visa, Mastercard and American Express said they were blocking Russian banks from their payment networks.