Russian ambassador interrupts minute’s silence for Ukraine and says ‘all lives are priceless’
Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations has interrupted a minute’s silence for Ukraine as members of the Security Council stood up to honour the “victims of aggression” in the war.
Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba addressed those gathered in New York before calling for the silence to be observed as a mark of respect for Ukrainians who had died.
But as representatives got to their feet, Russia’s ambassador Vasily Nebenzya repeatedly tapped his microphone.
After being given the floor to make a statement, Mr Nebenzya said: “We are getting up on our feet to remember all victims of what has happened in Ukraine, starting in 2014.
“All of those who perished, all lives are priceless.”
Zelenskyy describes his toughest moment during conflict – follow live war updates
Mr Nebenzya was likely referring to the Russian lives which have been lost while fighting in Ukraine since Moscow’s forces invaded and annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
The tense moment came before Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy spoke in a news conference to mark the one year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, in what would be a huge moment, Mr Zelenskyy has said he plans to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
He did not say when such a meeting could take place.
“I plan to meet Xi Jinping and believe this will be beneficial for our countries and for security in the world,” he said.
China has close ties with Russia, but has aimed to present itself as a potential peace broker in recent days – and today set out a 12-point “peace plan”.
Mr Zelenskyy told the news conference in Kyiv that China has “started talking about Ukraine” and that “this is not bad”.
He added that a statement from China suggested the country respected Ukraine’s “territorial integrity”.
The president’s comments come as Western powers fear China will begin supplying Russia with weapons.
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UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said he supports Mr Zelenskyy’s calls for “China to engage with Ukraine” over the Russian war.
In Kyiv, Sky’s security and defence editor Deborah Haynes asked Mr Zelenskyy if Ukraine can achieve victory on the battlefield or whether they will have to negotiate and possibly compromise with Russia to bring about an end to the war.
The Ukrainian president replied: “Everybody has seen that they kill people, they torture people, and they are not even trying to hide their attacks.
“They are talking about nuclear matters. They decided to take Iranian drones and kill civilians, and those civilians did not have guns in their hands, they had their children in their hands.”
Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba, second from left, led the minute’s silence before it was interrupted. Pic: AP
He added: “Do you think we Ukrainians can sit and negotiate with all of this? We call this phenomenon Russianism.
“We need to start from scratch, we need to go back to what was violated. Our right to live on our land needs to be respected.
“Leave our territory, withdraw, stop shelling us, stop killing civilians, stop destroying our infrastructure, our energy sector, portable water.
“Stop airstrikes on the city, stop killing dogs, cats, animals. Stop burning the forest.”
He added that only when Russia “stops doing all of that” can it be considered how the war might end diplomatically.
Mr Zelenskyy also told those gathered that victory over Russia was “inevitable” if all of Ukraine’s partners did their “homework”.
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The Ukrainian president also said he wants Latin America, Africa, China and India to participate in helping to bring about peace in Ukraine.
“These countries are also very important,” he said, adding he would like to organise a summit with the Latin American countries and Ukraine.
Mr Zelenskyy was earlier asked about Russian war crimes and whether those accused could be tried in Ukraine.
He said a special tribunal and mechanism is needed for Russia to get real “accountability” for its actions during the conflict.
“It’s huge work, and we are working on it,” Mr Zelenskyy said.
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Journalist asks Zelenskyy for a selfie
The Ukrainian leader was also asked about the moment of the war he found most difficult.
The room went silent as he replied.
“I think Bucha,” he said. “The moment we de-occupied Bucha. It was horrible. What we’ve seen… the devil is not somewhere below us – he’s among us.”
The town of Bucha, in the Kyiv region, was the site of a massacre of Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war.
Ukrainian authorities say the bodies of 458 people were found in a mass grave after Russian troops departed.
Mr Zelenskyy was also asked what he thought his biggest mistake was and if anyone from his country had disappointed him.
“I’d like to start with the ones who disappointed me,” he said.
“All those who left on 24 February… all those who left Kyiv, all those who were leaving cities and towns… all those who were supposed to fight for this country, who were supposed to take care of the security of this country.”
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On the question of his own mistake, Mr Zelenskyy said he did not know.
“I’m working from early morning to late night, I’m a living person and no matter how some might think of that, I make choices, I am convinced I’m making mistakes from time to time.”
Meanwhile, a journalist from Azerbaijan took a selfie with Mr Zelenskyy in the middle of a news conference.
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The reporter asked Mr Zelenskyy a question before saying his son had asked him to get a photo with him.
Mr Zelenskyy appeared happy to do so and smiled for the snap.
The Ukrainian president then said: “We’ll start with what your son has asked, then get to the question you asked.”
Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.
Speaking with NATO secretary general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.
“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States,” he added, “going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”
Weapons being sent include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which Ukraine has asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.
Pic: Reuters
Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.
The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.
It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump against Vladimir Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down” from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.
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Trump says Putin ‘talks nice and then bombs everybody’
During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call,” but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.
“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.
Earlier this year, Mr Trump told Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy “you’re gambling with World War Three” in a fiery White House meeting, and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia as he sought to negotiate an end to the conflict.
After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”
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Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy met with US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, where they “discussed the path to peace” by “strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe”.
He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.
At least 30 people have been killed in the Syrian city of Sweida in clashes between local military groups and tribes, according to Syria’s interior ministry.
Officials say initial figures suggest around 100 people have also been injured in the city, where the Druze faith is one of the major religious groups.
The interior ministry said its forces will directly intervene to resolve the conflict, which the Reuters news agency said involved fighting between Druze gunmen and Bedouin Sunni tribes.
It marks the latest episode of sectarian violence in Syria, where fears among minority groups have increased since Islamist-led rebels toppled President Bashar al Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces.
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In March, Sky’s Stuart Ramsay described escalating violence within Syria
The violence reportedly erupted after a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida.
Last April, Sunni militia clashed with armed Druze residents of Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, and fighting later spread to another district near the capital.
But this is the first time the fighting has been reported inside the city of Sweida itself, the provincial capital of the mostly Druze province.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports the fighting was centred in the Maqwas neighbourhood east of Sweida and villages on the western and northern outskirts of the city.
It adds that Syria’s Ministry of Defence has deployed military convoys to the area.
Western nations, including the US and UK, have been increasingly moving towards normalising relations with Syria.
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Concerns among minority groups have intensified following the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, in apparent retaliation for an earlier attack carried out by Assad loyalists.
That was the deadliest sectarian flare-up in years in Syria, where a 14-year civil war ended with Assad fleeing to Russia after his government was overthrown by rebel forces.
The city of Sweida is in southern Syria, about 24 miles (38km) north of the border with Jordan.
The man convicted of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher has been charged with sexual assault against an ex-girlfriend.
Rudy Guede, 38, was the only person who was definitively convicted of the murder of 21-year-old Ms Kercher in Perugia, Italy, back in 2007.
He will be standing trial again in November after an ex-girlfriend filed a police report in the summer of 2023 accusing Guede of mistreatment, personal injury and sexual violence.
Guede, from the Ivory Coast, was released from prison for the murder of Leeds University student Ms Kercher in 2021, after having served about 13 years of a 16-year sentence.
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Since last year – when this investigation was still ongoing – Guede has been under a “special surveillance” regime, Sky News understands, meaning he was banned from having any contact with the woman behind the sexual assault allegations, including via social media, and had to inform police any time he left his city of residence, Viterbo, as ruled by a Rome court.
Guede has been serving a restraining order and fitted with an electronic ankle tag.
The Kercher murder case, in the university city of Perugia, was the subject of international attention.
Ms Kercher, a 21-year-old British exchange student, was found murdered in the flat she shared with her American roommate, Amanda Knox.
The Briton’s throat had been cut and she had been stabbed 47 times.
(L-R) Raffaele Sollecito, Meredith Kercher and Amanda Knox. File pic: AP
Ms Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were placed under suspicion.
Both were initially convicted of murder, but Italy’s highest court overturned their convictions, acquitting them in 2015.
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