Biden will seek the widest possible support for the Ukrainian resistance at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) by calling it a direct violation of the UN Charter and will make new announcements about US funding for measures to address the global crisis. of food insecurity, caused in part by the Russian invasion, which threatened developing countries with famine. Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said: “He [Biden] it will underline the importance of strengthening the United Nations and reaffirm the basic principles of its charter at a time when a permanent member of the Security Council has struck at the heart of the charter by challenging the principle of territorial integrity and sovereignty.” Speaking in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly summit, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said: “None of this – the fake referendums, the possible mobilization of additional forces – is a sign of strength. On the contrary, it is a sign of weakness. It is the sign of Russian failure.” Biden’s speech on Wednesday morning will be followed a few hours later by a video speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a speech that Russia tried to block but which was overwhelmingly supported by members of the general assembly. Biden and Zelensky will seek to present the Russian invasion as a direct affront to everything the UN stands for. They will make their speeches as reports of mass graves come in from the former Russian-held city of Izium and after the Russian State Duma approved new amendments to the legal code that directly refer to “mobilization” and “martial law” and introduce criminal liability for desertion or voluntary surrender during this period. Four Russian-held regions in Ukraine said they plan to hold “referendums” on joining the Russian Federation in a series of coordinated announcements that could suggest the Kremlin has made a decision to formally annex the territories. Sullivan said the US would never accept the supposed results of such “fake referendums”. On possible conscription plans, he said Vladimir Putin “may be resorting to partial mobilization, forcing even more Russians to go fight his brutal war in Ukraine.” However, he did not believe it would change the military tide, which has shifted in favor of Kiev in recent days. “In terms of Russia being able to put more troops on the battlefield, obviously, that will have an impact on the battlefield equation, but we don’t believe at this point that it will undermine Ukraine’s ability to effectively repel Russian aggression and continue to make gains,” Sullivan said. In his address to the general assembly, French President Emmanuel Macron described Russia’s attempt to seize Ukraine as a “return to the age of imperialism”. Macron blamed those member states who appeared neutral in the conflict, saying they were making “a historic mistake”. “Those who are silent today are, in a way, complicit in the cause of a new imperialism,” said the French president. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday in his first speech to the general assembly that Putin would abandon his “imperial ambitions” that risk destroying Ukraine and Russia only if he recognizes that he cannot win the war. “This is why we will not accept any peace dictated by Russia and this is why Ukraine must be able to repel Russian aggression,” Scholz said. Finland’s president, Sauli Niinistö, delivered the news from Moscow as Putin raises the stakes in an increasingly desperate bet. “Now we’re in a situation where Putin, to use the poker term, has gone all-in and it’s extremely dangerous to play that way. By all-in, I mean, for example, Russia’s political and economic future,” Niinistö said in his address to the assembly. The Kremlin has so far resisted a full mobilization, likely due to fear of a political backlash. Experts also questioned whether a Russian mobilization would have an immediate effect in stemming a Ukrainian advance that has retaken more than 3,000 square miles in the past month. “There is a problem,” wrote Ekaterina Schulmann, a political analyst. “The administrative side of adding new territory takes time, mobilizing and integrating mobilized troops takes time, and they assume that the opposing side will stop and wait – obviously, out of respect for the Russian legislative process.” The occupied regions of Donetsk and Luhansk have said they are ready to hold “votes”, which will be widely seen as rigged, as soon as this week, with announcements also being made in Kherson and Zaporizhia. Some Russian media have reported that Putin may soon deliver a speech about a possible annexation. As Ukrainian troops begin to advance into the Luhansk region, Russia may worry that it cannot win on the battlefield and threaten a possible escalation, including a formal declaration of war or even a nuclear strike, claiming it is defending its own of ground. “What is happening today is an absolutely unmistakable ultimatum to Ukraine and the West,” wrote Tatiana Stanovaya, an expert on Kremlin politics and founder of R.Politik. “Either Ukraine will back down or there will be nuclear war.” “To guarantee ‘victory’, Putin is ready to immediately hold referendums to gain the right (as he understands it) to use nuclear weapons to defend Russian territory.”
