Joe Biden warns at the UN that no country will be safe if Ukraine loses the war

The president of the United States, Joe Biden, warned this Tuesday before the UN General Assembly that no country will have its independence assured if Ukraine loses the war due to the Russian invasion.

The president claimed the need to continue supporting the Kiev government militarily to defend the territorial integrity of Ukraine and “dissuade” Russia from invading other countries in the future.

“If we abandon the basic principles of the United Nations Charter, will any member state be able to feel safe? If we allow Ukraine to be divided, will the independence of any nation be assured? The answer is no,” he warned.

For this reason, Biden promised that the United States and its allies “will continue to stand by the brave Ukrainian people in defense of their sovereignty, their territorial integrity and their freedom,” after which he was applauded by the audience.

The president, who on this occasion did not refer directly to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, also pointed out that Russia is “responsible for this war” and that it is in its hands for the conflict to end “immediately.”

The Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, and the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, will also participate in the High Level Week of the UN General Assembly, in the absence of Putin, although Lavrov has not arrived in New York and it is difficult for him to be able to. match the Ukrainian.

US soldiers prepare a shipment of weapons and ammunition to send to Ukraine, in an image from 2022. Photo: AP

China and climate change

The Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, has lowered expectations of any type of progress to resolve the war in Ukraine, a conflict in which many African and Latin American countries have opted for neutrality.

Aware of this, Biden dedicated a good part of his speech to winking at the countries of the global South, expressing his commitment to combating the climate crisis and food insecurity, investing in infrastructure and regulating artificial intelligence.

Regarding China, his great rival, the president of the United States advocated “responsibly managing” the relationship between both powers and stressed the need to cooperate with Beijing on common challenges such as climate change.

In this sense, he recalled the record heat waves in the United States and China, the forest fires in North America and southern Europe, the droughts in the Horn of Africa and the floods in Libya.

“These phenomena are warning us of what awaits us if we do not urgently reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and begin to protect our world,” Biden said.

Joe Biden before the UN General Assembly, this Tuesday. Photo: REUTERS

The American leader assured that his country wants “a safer, more prosperous and more equitable world” and stressed that “no nation can face today’s challenges alone.”

For this reason, he reiterated his intention to reform the UN Security Council to include new members and end the situation of blockade that exists due to disputes between the United States, Russia and China.

He also asked that organization to authorize as soon as possible the intervention of a multinational force led by Kenya to quell the crisis of violence in Haiti, an initiative that the Haitian Government itself has demanded for months.

“I call on the Security Council to authorize that mission now. The people of Haiti cannot wait any longer,” he said.

In his review of the international situation, Biden also condemned North Korea’s missile launches, pledged to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and defended the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.