Dozens of UK and EU diplomats staged a walkout during a Russian Minister’s speech at a Geneva conference, in protest against Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
A pre-recorded video message by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was being played to the UN Human Rights Council at the disarmament conference today when diplomats from countries including Britain, the United States and France stood up and filed out of the room.
The recording saw the foreign minister blame Ukraine for the war and claim Kyiv had been seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.
However, the crowd thinned out as Lavrobv reasoned that what was going on in Britain required a Russian response.
Once out of the room, the diplomats stood in a circle outside the meeting for the duration of the speech, holding a Ukrainian flag.
“Today the dangers that (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskiy's regime pose for neighbouring countries and international security in general have increased substantially after the authorities set up in Kyiv have embarked upon dangerous games related to plans to acquire their own nuclear weapons,” Lavrov told the conference.
Click here to follow our live blog with the latest updates
“Ukraine still has Soviet nuclear technologies and the means of delivery of such weapons. We cannot fail to respond to this real danger,' he said, also calling for Washington to rebase its nuclear weapons from Europe.”
Lavrov had been expected to attend the session in person, but the visit was cancelled at the last minute. Moscow blamed “anti-Russian sanctions” imposed by EU countries for the change in plans.
Putin’s army invaded Ukraine on Thursday, in what Russia ’s government has called a special operation to demilitarise and “denazify” the country. The justification has been dismissed by Kyiv and the West as propaganda.
The walkout on Lavrov’s pre-recorded video message was led by Ukrainian Ambassador Yevheniia Filipenko.
Once outside the chamber and gathered around the large Ukrainian flag, Mr Filipenko thanked his followers for their “wonderful show of support” to Ukrainians who were fighting for their independence.
French Ambassador Jerome Bonnafont said any invasion constitutes a “violation of human rights”.
“It is important that the Human Rights Council shows with this walkout that it is united with Ukraine and with the people of Ukraine,” he said.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has enlivened the negotiating forum - the disarmament conference - which has not reached a deal in decades in spite of holding more than 1,600 plenary meetings.
It comes as Russia has been accused of violating international humanitarian law through its shelling of Ukraine and use of weapons of mass destruction.
Britain’s UN Ambassador Dame Barbara Woodward was among those at the UN to accuse the Kremlin of launching “indiscriminate attacks against men, women and children” and violating international humanitarian law.
She said: “As a result of President Putin’s decision to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a country of 44 million people is now on the brink of humanitarian catastrophe.
“Missiles have rained down on Kharkiv, with cluster munitions hitting residential areas and injuring residents. Disruption to supply chains has caused food shortages in Kramatorsk.
“The reckless bombing of an oil depot in Vasylkiv, has unleashed toxic fumes in nearby communities.
“Violence in Kyiv has forced people to seek refuge underground, with many thousands, including the elderly and disabled, unable to evacuate.”
The UK permanent representative to the UN told the Security Council that “hundreds of civilians had been killed as a result of the Russian invasion” and seven million people had been displaced, with the figure “rising exponentially”.
Ukraine’s representative, Sergiy Kyslytsya, told the council that Kyiv was “sitting within Russian crosshairs right now” and that 352 people, including 16 children, had been killed as of Monday in the fighting.
He accused Moscow troops of attacking hospitals and ambulances in a determination to “kill civilians”, adding: “There is no debate. These are war crimes.”
But Vasily Nebenzya, the Russian UN permanent representative, said his country’s armed forces did “not have the goal of occupying Ukraine or harming the local population”.
