The war in Ukraine will dominate many speeches during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that opens in New York on Tuesday and will highlight this year the deepening divisions between the West and rival powers Russia and China among the myriad global issues.
Michael Barnett, professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, points out that this will be a UNGA that will, in essence, bring back the divisions between the UN’s 193 member states of the West and the non-West.
Six months after Russia initiated its February 24 invasion of Ukraine, the resulting grueling war has knock-on effects even for countries that are not backing either side, driving up food costs on a global scale and creating food shortages in many nations dependent on Russian and Ukrainian wheat imports.
The war has also resulted in historic shocks for the energy markets caused by the massive cut in Russian gas supplies to Europe and skyrocketing international oil prices.
Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Kyiv accused Russian troops of attacking civilian infrastructure including water facilities and a thermal power station in Kharkiv, and of causing widespread blackouts with its retaliatory attacks to deprive people of light & heat.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter on Sunday that Russians target critical civilian infrastructure in response to the Ukrainian rapid weekend offensive that forced out Russian troops from its main bastion in the Kharkiv region.
According to the Ukrainian military General Staff’s statement Monday, their troops have continued the liberation of settlements from the Russian forces and have recaptured more than 3,000 square kilometers of territory over the weekend.
Ukrainian defense minister Oleksii Reznikov, however, has warned that Ukraine must secure retaken territory against a possible Russian counterattack on stretched Ukrainian supply lines, cautioning that if they advance too far, Kyiv’s troops could be encircled by Russian reinforcements.
The Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, on the other hand, stressed that Moscow will achieve the goals of its special military operation in Ukraine that continues, marking Russia’s first response to Kyiv’s recent counteroffensive maneuvers.