The emblem of the United Nations (UN) on the building of the UN office in Geneva. File photoUN, Aug 25Less than a third of the UN member states joined the anti-Russian statement on the situation in Ukraine, announced on Wednesday at the headquarters of the organization. The UN includes 193 countries. The statement was signed by 54 states. These included the United States, Britain, Albania, Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Georgia, France, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Italy, Spain and Ukraine itself. The statement was read out by the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN Serhiy Kyslitsa.The UN Security Council voted for Zelensky's virtual participation in the meetingThese states expressed regret that Russia did not stop the special military operation. They condemned the missile strikes that Russia is inflicting on Ukrainian territory. «We remain committed to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders,» Kislytsya read out a statement. The authors of the statement called on Russia to immediately cease hostilities. Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at the military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and, as of March 25, they have completed the main tasks of the first stage — they have significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.
