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The war started by Vladimir Putin in Ukraine sparked, Thursday, February 24, an avalanche of condemnations and all-out consultations on the side of Western capitals. They had been on high alert since late Wednesday afternoon, when new information emerged on the imminence of a large-scale offensive.
“President Putin chose [de lancer] a premeditated war that will cause catastrophic human suffering and loss,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement. “Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will cause,” he insisted, assuring that “the world would demand accountability from Russia”.
The European Union condemns “in the strongest possible terms the unwarranted invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces” in the same way “Belarusian involvement” in this attack. The Twenty-Seven also ask the Russian President to “immediately cease military operations and unconditionally withdraw all military forces from the entire territory of Ukraine”.
Sending weapons
Emmanuel Macron was able to reach his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, on his mobile phone, early in the morning, to tell him ” all the support and solidarity of France, when Kiev was targeted by bombardments. Mr. Zelensky, indicated the Elysée, him “described the situation and called for multiple interventions to support Ukraine”. In the process, the Elysée organized a defense council.
Convened on Wednesday at the end of the afternoon, while the Russian offensive seemed imminent, the European Council should decide on Thursday evening on the vast sanctions plan prepared for weeks by the Twenty-Seven, in close consultation with the United States. . The representatives of the Member States met from the start of the morning to finalize the details of this response announced as « massive » and “expensive” for Russia. These include blocking exports in a number of areas, in particular that of high-tech products.
Early Thursday afternoon, the leaders of the G7 were also to speak by videoconference, at the initiative of the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who chairs this body this year. It was to be a question of coordinating the various sanctions plans, in order to react as quickly as possible to the choice of war made by Vladimir Putin. Without any great illusions, the idea is also to encourage him to return to the discussion table to try to restore the security order of the entire European continent. Starting with Ukraine.
NATO, too, is on high alert. “We stand with the Ukrainian people at this terrible time. NATO will do whatever it takes to protect and defend all allies,” said Jens Stoltenberg, its general secretary. A North Atlantic Council (NAC), the organisation’s main decision-making body, was immediately convened in Brussels. The process of consultation of the allies provided for by article 4 in the event of external aggression was to be activated on Thursday morning, at the request of several capitals of central and eastern Europe, as well as Paris. This includes examining the defense plans drawn up for the NATO countries bordering Russia or neighboring Ukraine, likely to feel threatened by the offensive launched by the Kremlin: Poland and the Baltic States on the Alliance’s eastern flank, as well as Romania and Bulgaria.
Since Ukraine is not a member of the Alliance, the mutual assistance clause of the North Atlantic Treaty (Article 5) cannot be invoked to militarily come to its aid. However, some voices, including those of the Chairman of the Defense Committee of the British House of Commons, the much listened to Tobias Ellwood, have called on NATO to send arms to Ukraine. Without waiting, Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, was also preparing to announce during the day the supply of additional military aid to Kiev, on a bilateral basis.
Vote at the UN
Finally, the last channel of coordination: the UN Security Council. “President Putin, in the name of humanity, bring your troops back to Russia! », launched Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations, just after the announcement of the Russian military operations in the middle of a session of the Security Council. “This is the saddest moment of my tenure as Secretary General of the United Nations,” he added.
A draft resolution, carried by the United States to condemn the offensive was to be put to the vote on Thursday. This text has no chance of being adopted because of Russia’s veto. “We call on Russia to respect international humanitarian law in all circumstances, we call for the protection and respect of all civilians, including vulnerable people, women and children, and humanitarian personnel,” said the French ambassador to the UN, Nicolas de Rivière.
Westerners hoped, on the other hand, without really believing it, that China would abstain, even if it has rather sided with Russia in recent weeks. Emmanuel Bonne, President Macron’s diplomatic adviser, was to join his Chinese counterpart in the morning to discuss the situation.
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