Ukraine-Russia Crisis: UN Security Council schedules emergency meeting
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) - The United Nations Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting for Wednesday night at the request of Ukraine, which said it feared an immediate threat of a Russian invasion.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba asked for the meeting in a letter to Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, who holds the council presidency in February. The meeting is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. EST.
The meeting comes two days after the 15-member council held an emergency open meeting, also at Ukraine's request, which saw no support for Russian President Vladimir Putin's declaration of independence for two separatist areas in Ukraine's east and his announcement that Russian troops would head there to keep the peace.
Council diplomats are finalizing a draft resolution that they said would make clear that Russia is violating the U.N. Charter, international law, and a 2015 council resolution endorsing the Minsk agreements aimed at restoring peace in eastern Ukraine.
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The Ukrainian president rejected Moscow's claims that his country poses a threat to Russia and warned that a Russian invasion would cost tens of thousands of lives.
"The people of Ukraine and the government of Ukraine want peace," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an emotional overnight address to his nation in Russian. "But if we come under attack, if we face an attempt to take away our country, our freedom, our lives and lives of our children, we will defend ourselves. When you attack us, you will see our faces, not our backs."
Zelenskyy said he asked to arrange a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin late Wednesday, but the Kremlin didn't respond.
In an apparent reference to Putin's move to sanction the deployment of the Russian military to "maintain peace" in eastern Ukraine, Zelensky warned that "this step could mark the start of a big war on the European continent."
"Any provocation, any spark could trigger a blaze that will destroy everything," he said.