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Russia dismissed claims that modern Western weapons supplied to Ukraine can lead it to victory as “empty fantasies,” insisting Thursday that the Russian army is destroying Ukraine’s old and new weapons and will “finish” the war as President Vladimir Putin vowed.
The United States accused Russia of having “the gall to blame other countries for refusing to step aside as it seeks to destroy another U.N. member state.” The Biden administration said it is committed to supporting the Ukrainian people “as they defend their lives, their liberty, and their democracy.”
The clash came at the U.N. Security Council’s third consecutive meeting on Ukraine.
On Tuesday, the council held a meeting at Russia’s request to hear about the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine where Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of shelling the facility and threatening a possible nuclear catastrophe.
On Wednesday, at the request of the U.S. and Albania, the council discussed what the U.S. said is the forcible deportation of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians to Russia.
Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, called Thursday’s meeting to discuss threats to peace caused by foreign governments supplying arms and military goods to Ukraine.
He told the council that the consequences of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his “entourage” saying that Western weapons and “so-called wonder warfare” will change the course of the six-month conflict and bring Ukraine victory is “very lamentable for Ukraine.
