Ukraine invasion ‘should make your blood run cold, Biden tells UN

New York — US President Joe Biden accused Russia on Wednesday of making “reckless” and “irresponsible” threats to use nuclear weapons and said Moscow had violated the core tenets of UN membership by invading Ukraine.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York, Biden slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin for starting an unprovoked war that about 40 UN members were helping Ukraine fight through funding and weapons.

Earlier on Wednesday, Putin ordered a Russian mobilisation to fight in Ukraine and made a thinly veiled threat to use nuclear weapons, in what Nato called a “reckless” act of desperation in the face of a looming Russian defeat.

Biden echoed that sentiment.

“Again, just today, President Putin has made overt nuclear threats against Europe, in a reckless disregard for the responsibilities of the non-proliferation regime,” Biden said.

“A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” he said.

Biden said no-one had threatened Russia, despite its claims to the contrary, and that only Russia had sought conflict, and he used the UN setting to underscore his view that Moscow had violated the body's values.

“A permanent member of the UN Security Council invaded its neighbour, attempted to erase a sovereign state from the map. Russia has shamelessly violated the core tenets of the UN Charter,” Biden said.

“This war is about extinguishing Ukraine’s right to exist as a state, plain and simple, and Ukraine’s right to exist as a people. Wherever you are, wherever you live, whatever you believe, that should ... make your blood run cold.”

Russia’s mission to the UN did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Biden’s remarks. While Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was in New York for the UN gathering, a deputy Russian UN ambassador was in the chamber for Biden’s speech.

Influence

The US and Western allies are competing with Russia for diplomatic influence. The US has acknowledged that some countries are concerned the Ukraine war had drawn global attention away from other crises.

Washington has also long been vying for sway with Beijing.

“Let me be direct about the competition between the US and China. As we manage shifting geopolitical trends, the US will conduct itself as a reasonable leader,” Biden said.

“We do not seek conflict. We do not seek a Cold War. We do not ask any nation to choose between the US or any other partner,” he said.

Biden also called out China for suspending bilateral co-operation with the US on climate talks after US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.

“The US will work with every nation, including our competitors, to solve global problems like climate change. Climate diplomacy is not a favour to the US or any other nation and walking away hurts the entire world,” he said.

Biden announced $2.9bn in additional US funding to combat global food insecurity, building on $6.9bn in US food security funding already committed this year.

Food security

The US has strengthened its focus on food security since Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine worsened a global food crisis that was already fuelled by climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic. Russia and Ukraine are major grain and fertiliser exporters and shipments were disrupted by the war.

Biden pushed back against Russian complaints that Western sanctions are harming its exports, stressing that US sanctions explicitly allow Russia to export food and fertiliser and that it was “Russia’s war that is worsening food insecurity”.

He also urged countries not to hoard grain while so many people are suffering: “In every country in the world, no matter what else divides us, if parents cannot feed their children, nothing, nothing else matters.”

The US has accused China of stockpiling grain. China’s grain stocks at the end of the 2021/2022 season were estimated by the International Grains Council to be 323.5-million tonnes, more than half the global total of 602.9-million tonnes. They dwarf those of the US, the world’s top grain exporter, which were estimated at 57.5-million tonnes.

Biden also pushed for the extension of a deal, brokered in July by the UN and Turkey, that allowed Ukraine to resume Black Sea food and fertiliser exports. Russia has cast a shadow over whether the initial 120-day deal should continue.

Reuters