Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations had some choice words for his Russian counterpart at an emergency meeting of the Security Council late Wednesday night.
As it happens, Russia is currently the president of council, which meant that Russian ambassador to the U.N. Vasily Nebenzya presided over the meeting. The body was meeting as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was underway.
During the meeting, Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said Russian President Vladimir Putin sent forth “a message of war.”
“At the exact time as we are gathered in the council seeking peace, Putin delivered a message of war in total disdain for the responsibility for this council.,” he said. “This is a grave emergency.”
At the conclusion of the meeting, Kyslytsya spoke once more, and barely concealed his simmering anger for Russia and its U.N. representative.
Speaking in English, he called on Nebenzya to “relinquish” his duties as chair and delivered the most memorable line of the meeting.
Call Putin, call [Russian Foreign Minister] Sergey Lavrov to stop aggression. And I welcome the decision of some members of this council to meet as soon as possible to consider the necessary decision that would condemn the aggression that you launched on my people. There is no purgatory for war criminals. They go straight to hell, ambassador.
Speaking Russian, Nebenzyya insisted, “I wanted to say in conclusion that we aren’t being aggressive against the Ukrainian people,
Watch above via C-SPAN.