Spiral of conflict “clear danger”: UN chief warns against use of nuclear weapons

Conflict spiral “clear danger”
UN chief warns against use of nuclear weapons

The UN special session should make it clear that the world is not tired of war, and that support for Kiev remains. At the beginning, however, Secretary General Guterres made it clear how great the risk of the war escalating.

Barely a year after Russia invaded Ukraine, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned of an escalation of the conflict and the use of nuclear weapons. “Over the past year, not only have we seen increasing suffering and devastation, it’s becoming increasingly clear how much worse things could get,” Guterres said at the opening of a special session of the UN General Assembly to mark the anniversary.

The possible consequences of a conflict spiral are a clear and present danger, Guterres continued. “By now we have heard implicit threats about the use of nuclear weapons. The so-called tactical use of nuclear weapons is absolutely unacceptable.” It is high time to step back from the abyss. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly indicated that his country could use nuclear weapons if there was a threat.

A year after the start of the war, the largest UN body is due to pass a resolution on Thursday calling for peace and Moscow’s withdrawal. The draft resolution reaffirms a number of previously agreed positions of the General Assembly – for example, the territorial integrity of Ukraine and a withdrawal of Russian troops from the neighboring country.

The strategy of Ukraine’s Western supporters is not to put complex outlines to a vote for an end to the war, but to persuade as many countries as possible to vote “yes”. In doing so, they want to build on the results of the vote last year, when 143 states opposed annexations by Moscow that violate international law in a similar vote in October. A strong result on the scale of past votes could counteract the impression that there is war weariness and crumbling support for Kiev in parts of the world.

source site-34