The Russian president’s threats in a televised address to the nation appeared to suggest the conflict in Ukraine could escalate into a nuclear crisis, prompting a furious response from world leaders, led by US President Joe Biden. The UK’s new prime minister, addressing the United Nations in New York hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s mock speech, will urge world leaders not to “cheat” on dealing with Putin despite domestic concerns about the rise of energy prices. “This morning we saw Putin desperately trying to justify his disastrous failures,” he is expected to say. “It doubles down by sending even more reservists to a terrible fate. It is desperately trying to claim the mantle of democracy for a regime without human rights and freedoms. And he makes even more false claims and terrifying threats. This won’t work.” Truss will also use her speech to highlight the ongoing struggle, with economic security at its heart, between democracies and autocracies. “If democratic societies do not provide the economy and security that our citizens expect, we will be left behind,” he says. “We must continue to improve and renew what we do for the new era, showing that democracy works.” Earlier, in a joint statement with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Truss added that the Russian military mobilization, with 300,000 reservists to be called up as the Kremlin tries to regain ground in the face of a counterattack by Ukrainian forces. “Declaration of Weakness”. Foreign Secretary James Cleverley will face his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov at a UN Security Council meeting on Thursday, where he will outline how Russian forces continue to violate international law and reveal how Moscow plans to correct the results. of fraud. referendums in the occupied territories. He is expected to say: “We can and must make it clear to President Putin that his attacks on the sovereign will of the Ukrainian people – so clearly expressed as they fight for their homes – must stop. His attacks on the UN Charter and the international rules that protect us will not be tolerated, and he must withdraw from Ukraine to allow a return to regional and global stability.” As foreign secretary, Truss traveled to Moscow to meet Lavrov in February, just weeks before the invasion of Ukraine, but relations have been frosty with Russia’s top diplomat describing the talks as “a conversation between the dumb and the deaf”. , as he warned Moscow of harsh sanctions in the event of an attack on Ukraine. British officials said they took Putin’s threat “very seriously” in terms of defense but also as another example of Russia breaking international agreements. A senior diplomat said: “The threat of either using tactical nuclear weapons, which would be tragic, or using larger nuclear weapons is very real. “We’ve seen Putin lie and bluff his way through this entire war. But we’ve also seen him in some ways make some sensible decisions – so it’s hard to know. We take it very seriously. “But we’re not going to get into a war of words over a nuclear threat from a man who postponed his speech last night, was shaking when he delivered it, and is now trying to mobilize reservists trying to get to airports. Russia. His lies are catching up to him, I think.”
