US President Joe Biden spoke before the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, laying out his vision for the leadership of the United States and his approach to foreign policy, which he hopes will help resolve of the world’s most pressing problems. As expected, one of the main topics of his speech was support for Ukraine and Russia’s denunciation of aggression against its neighbor.
President Biden said the world is at a critical moment.
“The United States wants a safer, more prosperous, more equal world for all people, because we know that our future is tied to yours. And no country can face today’s challenges alone”, he said.
And one of the major challenges in the world today is Russian aggression against Ukraine. President Biden called for support for Kiev in the face of Moscow’s belief that the world will allow it to brutalize its neighbor without consequence.
“But I ask you: if we abandon the core principles of the UN Charter in the face of an aggressor, is there any member country that would feel safe and protected? If we allow Ukraine to break up, is the independence of any country safe? The answer is no,” said President Biden.
The American leader said that the world must resist this open aggression today to deter other potential aggressors in the future.
“That’s why the United States, along with our allies and partners around the world, will continue to stand by the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their sovereignty and territorial integrity — and their freedom,” he said. .
Maintaining support for Ukraine is a key objective for President Biden amid growing calls from countries in the Global South to speed up peace negotiations between Moscow and Kiev.
The citizens of these developing countries bear the brunt of the cost of the conflict in global energy and food prices and are increasingly concerned about the possibility of a protracted war.
Experts say most non-Western UN members want to see a diplomatic solution to the war as soon as possible.
President Biden also spoke about the global climate crisis.
“Record heat waves in the United States and China. Fires ravaging North America and Southern Europe. The fifth year of drought in the Horn of Africa. Tragic floods in Libya that have killed thousands of people. Taken together, these images speak to the urgency of what lies ahead if we don’t reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and start protecting our world’s climate,” he said.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will speak before the UN General Assembly, where he will appear for the first time in person since Russia’s aggression began. The Ukrainian leader will be received at the White House on Thursday.
