Zelenskyy says Planet “can’t afford a single shot”

Updated on 11/08/2022 10:13 p.m

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke in a video message at the environmental conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
• He will probably attend the G20 summit in Indonesia next week, but probably not in person.
• It is still unclear whether Putin will come to the summit. The day at a glance.

More news about the war in Ukraine

The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj said in a video message at the 27th World Climate Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, declaring that the planet “can’t afford a single shot”. According to information from Kyiv, he will probably take part in the G20 summit in the coming week – but he will probably not travel to Indonesia in person. The 44-year-old is expected to join the event via video, Presidential spokesman Serhiy Nykyforov was quoted as saying on Ukrainian television on Tuesday. Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, has not yet announced whether he will attend the summit.

In Kyiv, people are looking forward to the outcome of the US midterm elections – there the majority in parliament was voted on Tuesday. Republicans in the House of Representatives have threatened to slow down or even block massive US aid to Ukraine if they win the Congress Chamber. That could change the course of the war in Russia’s favour. However, observers saw the threat as an attempt to build up pressure to get the Democrats to make concessions elsewhere.

Zelenskyy says Planet “can’t afford a single shot”

In his video message on Tuesday at the 27th World Climate Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, the Ukrainian head of state accused Russia of using its war of aggression against Ukraine to distract the world from the need for “joint action” to combat climate change. The world fighting against climate change “can’t afford a single shot”.

There are still people for whom global warming is just “rhetoric, marketing,” said Selenskyj. “It is those who prevent the implementation of the climate goals,” added the Ukrainian President. “It is those who launch aggressive wars when the planet cannot afford a single shot because it needs concerted action.”

The President added that there could be no effective climate policy without peace on Earth “because states think only of protecting themselves here and now from the threats generated in particular by Russian aggression”. He referred primarily to the food and energy crisis associated with the war.

“We must stop those who, through their illegal war, are destroying the world’s ability to work together for a common goal,” Zelenskyy said. In view of the destruction of Ukrainian forests since Russia invaded, he called for a global platform to evaluate the “impact of military actions on the climate and the environment”. That’s what it’s supposed to be about on Wednesday at an event in Ukraine at the climate conference.

G20 invitation to Zelenskyy in view of Russian attack

The annual meeting of the group of large industrialized and emerging countries (G20) will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday next week on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali. Also present are US President Joe Biden and the Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Ukraine is not one of the G20 countries. In view of the Russian war of aggression against his country, which has been going on for more than eight months, Zelenskyy was nevertheless invited.

At the beginning of November he had ruled out participating in the summit Putin be in Bali. The office of Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Tuesday that it was very likely that Putin would not come. Putin has so far left open his participation. “Maybe I’ll travel. I’m still thinking about it,” he said last week. In any case, Russia will be represented by a high-ranking delegation, said the head of the Kremlin.

Zelenskyj praises international military aid

The Ukrainian President praised the international willingness to help his country. “The current escalation of Russian missile and drone terror has only resulted in the world (…) responding with new aid for Ukraine,” said Zelenskyj in his video address on Tuesday night. He reported successes against the Russian troops in the occupied territories in southern and eastern Ukraine. According to Selenskyj, hundreds of Russians die every day, especially in the Donetsk region. Moscow denies such high losses.

Russia is open to dialogue with the United States

Russia remains open to dialogue with the US for “mutual benefit,” according to the State Department. They want to “maintain targeted contacts with the United States on necessary issues,” said ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on state television on Tuesday. Relations between the two countries are at a low point because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Washington had recently warned Moscow several times against the use of nuclear weapons.

US ambassador to the UN visits Kyiv

The US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, traveled to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv for talks. At a meeting with Zelenskyy, the US mission to the United Nations said she promised continued support from the United States. The United States is ready to support the country for as long as necessary. The diplomat also toured a grain factory and visited a forensic laboratory and a collective shelter for internally displaced people in Irpin.

Just last Friday, US President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, held talks in Ukraine. The United States is not only supporting the country in its defensive struggle against Russia with military aid, but also with humanitarian aid.

Kristersson with Erdogan – still no green light for NATO membership

Turkey still does not pave the way for Sweden and Finland to join NATO. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday after a first meeting with the new Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Ankara that he hopes to make more progress at the next Swedish-Finnish-Turkish meeting in Stockholm at the end of November. Sweden wants to join NATO for its own security – it is only right if it does everything to help Turkey with its security.

Turkey has so far refused to clear the way for Sweden and Finland to join NATO by ratifying the so-called accession protocols. The country justifies this attitude with the alleged Swedish and Finnish support of the Syrian Kurdish militia YPK, which Ankara sees as an offshoot of the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK and thus as a “terrorist organization”.

Moscow bans military cooperation with 20 German companies

In response to Western sanctions, Russia banned military-technical cooperation with 74 foreign companies. The list includes companies from various “unfriendly countries”, including 20 companies from Germany, as Moscow announced. This also includes companies from Bulgaria, Great Britain, Canada, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Montenegro, Poland and the USA. In the course of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, numerous countries and also the EU had imposed far-reaching sanctions on Moscow since February. (dpa/afp/cgo)