More than 100 United Nations diplomats walked out of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov's speech where he defended Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
The one who led the mass walkout was Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, leaving a largely empty conference hall where only a few people heard the remarks of Lavrov at a conference on disarmament. The Russian foreign minister had planned to attend the Human Rights Council session in person but delivered his speech by video link.
Mass Walkout
Lavrov said that the situation was due to European countries' bans on flights from Russia that resulted in his travel to Geneva being blocked. The minister accused Ukraine of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, an unsubstantiated claim that Moscow has repeatedly used as one of its justifications to invade the region.
The accusations come as Ukraine has given up its Soviet-era nuclear arsenal in 1994 in exchange for security guarantees. Lavrov repeated Moscow's claims that Ukraine had made "territorial claims" against the Russian Federation and threatened to use force and acquire a military nuclear capability, as per the New York Times.
Russia has tried to justify its invasion of Ukraine by saying that military operations were deployed to "denazify" the region and restore peace. However, critics worldwide have said that the invasion has done anything but restore peace.
In a Twitter post featuring video footage of the UN representatives walking out of the Council Chamber, Austrian diplomat Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger said that more than 140 individuals joined the mass walkout. Another video posted by Ukrainian diplomat Olexander Scherba showed representatives leaving the chamber as soon as Lavrov's speech began.
According to Fox News, at roughly the same time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has decided to stay in the region amid Russia's invasion, presented a live speech online. The official claimed that Moscow was on the path of evil and argued that it must lose its voice in the UN.
Support for Ukraine
Despite the mass walkout, a few representatives stayed behind to listen to Lavrov's speech, including the Russian ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Gennady Gatilov, who is a former deputy to the foreign minister. Furthermore, representatives from Syria, China, and Venezuela were among the delegates that did not leave the chamber.
On top of the incident, Switzerland, which has long stayed neutral in international affairs, imposed financial sanctions on Lavrov on Monday. Lavrov also claimed that the European Union supplied lethal weapons to Ukraine during Moscow's military campaign in the region.
On Tuesday, a Russian armored column bore down on Ukraine's capital Kyiv with invasion forces launching rockets into the center of Kharkiv, the second-largest city in the country.
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly and Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod were among those who walked out on Lavrov. They joined Ukraine's ambassador Yevheniia Filipenko behind a large Ukrainian blue and yellow flag.
In an address, Filipenko said that the walkout was a remarkable show of support for Ukrainians who were currently fighting against Russia for their independence. She argued that there has been massive damage to infrastructures in Kharkiv, adding that Moscow's forces attacked maternity wards and civilian residential buildings, Reuters reported.
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