KYIV, Ukraine — Most of the world lined up against Moscow at the United Nations on Wednesday to demand it withdraw from Ukraine, as Russian forces renewed their bombardment of the country’s second-biggest city, menaced its capital and besieged its strategic ports.
Russia reported its military casualties for the first time since the attacks began last week, saying nearly 500 of its troops have been killed and almost 1,600 wounded. Ukraine did not disclose its own military losses but said more than 2,000 civilians have died, a claim that could not be independently verified, according to AP.
Envoys from Ukraine and Russia are expected to meet Thursday in Belarus for a second round of talks aimed at ending the fighting. But there appeared to be little common ground between the two sides.
Seven days into Russia’s invasion, the U.N. said more than 870,000 people have fled Ukraine in a mounting refugee crisis on the European continent, while the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency warned that the fighting poses a danger to Ukraine’s 15 nuclear reactors.
“When there is a conflict ongoing, there is of course a risk of attack or the possibility of an accidental hit,” he said. Russia already has seized control of the decommissioned Chernobyl power plant, the scene in 1986 of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
In New York, the U.N. General Assembly voted to demand that Russia stop its offensive and immediately withdraw all troops, with world powers and tiny island states alike condemning Moscow. The vote was 141 to 5, with 35 abstentions.
Assembly resolutions aren’t legally binding but can reflect and influence world opinion.
The vote came after the 193-member assembly convened its first emergency session since 1997. The only countries to vote with Russia were Belarus, Syria, North Korea and Eritrea. Cuba spoke in Moscow’s defense but ultimately abstained.
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