Ukraine official tells U.N.: Russian invasion parallels World War 2

Feb. 28 (UPI) -- The permanent representative of Ukraine to the United Nations gave an impassioned speech Monday during the first emergency special session of the General Assembly since 1982 in which he drew parallels to the start of World War II.

Before his formal statement, Sergiy Kyslytsya, speaking to the 197 members of the United Nations, read a message from the smartphone of a slain Russian soldier in which his mother asks why he wasn't answering her messages.

"Mom, I am no longer in Crimea. I'm not in training sessions," the man responded before his mother asks if she can send him a care package, according to Kyslytsya.

"Mom, I'm in Ukraine. There's a real war here. I'm afraid. We are bombing all the cities together, even targeting civilians. We were told that they would welcome us, and they are falling under our armored vehicles, throwing themselves under our vehicles and not allowing us to pass. They are calling us fascists. Mom, this is so hard."

Kyslytsya told the representatives at the United Nations to think about the hundreds who have died in Ukraine, including dozens of children.

"Very clear parallels can be drawn with the beginning of the Second World War," Kyslytsya said. "And Russia's course of action is very similar to that which their spiritual mentors from the Third Reich employed on the Ukrainian land 80 years ago."

Kyslytsya added that the war in Ukraine is "the first time since the United Nations was born" that there is a full-fledged war in the center of Europe.

"Everyone in this hall and everyone in the world knows that Russia and Russia alone started this invasion now facilitated by Belarus," he said.

Russia's ambassador to the United Nations said video scenes from the war in Ukraine are "incredible fakes" during the meeting, called to discuss violations to the U.N. charter after Russia used its veto power as a permanent member of the Security Council to reject a draft resolution Friday that would have condemned the invasion of Ukraine.

Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said "Russian actions are being distorted and thwarted."

"The number of incredible fakes is staggering with the media outlets and social networks proliferating these lies," Nebenzya said. "I wish to emphasize the following: The root for the current crisis lies in the actions of Ukraine itself."

Video footage verified by The New York Times has shown missiles hitting a residential building in southwester Kyiv, while a northeastern neighborhood of Kharkiv suffered a major rocket attack on Monday with smoke billowing from an apartment building.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said late Friday that Russian troops had targeted orphanages and schools while moving toward Kyiv.

Other nations were also provided the opportunity to speak to the General Assembly on Monday after the Security Council on Sunday voted to call the emergency special meeting.

Jakub Kulhánek of the Czech Republic said the United Nations was meeting at a critical moment for all of its members as a whole while Russia's actions violate the very charter of the U.N.

"We urge Russia to stop immediately its military and unconditionally withdraw all its forces and military equipment from the entirety of Ukraine," he said.

Kulhánek said Russian President Vladimir Putin chose to reject diplomacy and multiple options for talks.

"Instead, he decided to launch a savage conquest of Ukraine. There are horrific reports from Ukraine of civilians, children, being killed in their own towns," Kulhánek said.

"Russia and its people are under no threat from Ukraine or NATO. We condemn in the strongest terms Putin's threat of using nuclear weapons. In truth, it is dangerous rhetoric."

A representative from Switzerland, which has historically remained neutral in foreign affairs, told the General Assembly, "What the population of Ukraine is experiencing is looks a lot like what we have pledged to avoid."

Carolyn Schwalger, New Zealand's ambassador to the U.N., told the General Assembly that it has instituted travel bans against Russian officials and prevented the expert of goods to Russian military forces.

"Russia's actions are nothing short of the acts of a bully," Schwalger said. "In standing in support of Ukraine, we are also standing in support of the U.N. charter."

An emergency special session can be called with a vote of nine members of the Security Council if the group is unable to maintain international peace "because of lack of unanimity of the permanent members," according to the U.N. charter.

The call for the emergency special session passed with a vote of 11 in favor while Russia, a permanent member of the security council, also vetoed that resolution. China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstained.

The last time an emergency special session was called was in 1982 to resolve a situation involving Syria and Israel and before that in 1980 after the outbreak of the Soviet-Afghan war.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said in a statement that the Sunday vote came after Putin announced that nuclear weapons were put on alert.

"The world is watching," Thomas-Greenfield said in comments directed at Russian soldiers and officers. "You will be held accountable; we will not let atrocities slide."

Any action taken by the General Assembly is unenforceable and largely symbolic but serves to show global support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.

Kyslytsya thanked the Security Council for calling for the emergency session and directed those who appeared to see no reason in supporting the session to images of the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine as the result of the invasion.

"I will continue to invite all Council members to join the catharsis; the purgation of the institution that will save it for the next generation," he said.

He also warned that Russia is resorting to "nuclear blackmail" and that "the world must take this threat very seriously."

António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, told the Human Rights Council on Monday that "the escalation of military operations by the Russian Federation in Ukraine is leading to escalating human rights violations."

"We know the inevitable result of war: civilian casualties; women, children and men forced from their homes; hunger, poverty and huge economic disruption," he said. "Conflict is the utter negation of human rights across the board."