Six Western countries have asked for an open session on Ukraine before the United Nations votes on a Russian humanitarian resolution that has been slammed for omitting the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
The six members of the UN Security Council — the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Norway, and Albania — have requested an open session on Thursday before the UN votes on a Russian humanitarian resolution that has been widely criticized for failing to mention the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Russia is committing war crimes and targeting civilians. Russia’s illegal war on Ukraine is a threat to us all,” tweeted the U.N. mission of the United Kingdom.
The resolution is expected to be voted on by the council Friday.
Meanwhile, Russian airstrikes ripped apart a theater in Mariupol that served as a makeshift shelter for hundreds of people, Ukrainian officials said, as Russian President Vladimir Putin said the “special operation” in Ukraine is going according to plan.
The strikes left many people buried in the burning rubble, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said in a statement. There was no immediate word on how many people were killed or injured.
In a speech aired on Russian TV, Putin repeated a number of false claims about the invasion, including the conspiracy theory that Ukraine was developing “weapons of mass destruction” like nuclear and bioweapons. He also said that in enacting sanctions, the West is trying to “cancel” Russia.
“The West thinks we will step back,” Putin said, according to a translation from Meduza, a Latvia-based media outlet. “The West does not understand Russia.”