Baerbock warns at the United Nations of declining support for Ukraine

The Ukraine war continues to be one of the dominant topics during the UN general debate in New York. In her speech to the United Nations, Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) warned of declining support for the country in the war against Russia. “The idea that there would be no fighting and no dying in Ukraine if there were no defensive weapons is as simple as it is wrong,” said Baerbock on Thursday (local time). Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wanted to present his view of the situation to Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday.

“If Russia stops its attack, the war is over. If Ukraine stops defending itself, Ukraine is over,” Baerbock continued. Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to an invitation to a peace conference in June by bombing a children’s hospital.

As long as Putin is not willing to come to the negotiating table, ending support would only mean “that Ukraine’s hospitals and their children are defenseless. It would mean more war crimes, not less, possibly in other countries too,” said Baerbock in her speech, delivered in English.

In recent months, Russia has “repeatedly played with the inviolability of the borders of the Baltic states and Poland,” emphasized Baerbock. She called on UN member states to support efforts to call on Putin to stop his attacks and begin negotiations. “Not only for our security, Europe’s security, but also in your own interest,” said Baerbock.

The Foreign Minister spoke on the third day of this year’s UN General Debate in New York, to which more than a hundred heads of state and government from all over the world traveled. Ukrainian President Zelensky also appealed to the United Nations for further support for his country in the war against Russia. Zelenskyj and Republican US presidential candidate Trump wanted to meet in New York on Friday. Trump and the current US administration have opposing positions on Ukraine policy. If the Republican wins the presidential election on November 5th, Kiev fears an imminent end to US military aid.

On Thursday, Zelensky was received by US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington. On Thursday morning, Biden announced additional billions in aid worth eight billion dollars (around 7.16 billion euros) for Ukraine as well as the provision of longer-range ammunition. At the same time, the US President invited people to a summit of the Ukraine Contact Group in Germany in October, where more than 50 supporting countries will come together.

Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit announced in Berlin on Friday that the meeting of Ukraine supporting states would take place during Biden’s visit to Germany on October 12 at the US air force base in Ramstein, Rhineland-Palatinate. The government spokesman could not say whether Zelenskyj would also be in Ramstein.

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier welcomed the US initiative for an international Ukraine summit. Ukraine needs “our support with financial but also military means, especially now in the current phase of the war,” he said.

Meanwhile, in southwestern Ukraine, three people were killed in a Russian drone strike, according to the local governor. Eleven people were injured in the attack on the port city of Izmail. In the city of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine, a woman was killed in a rocket attack and five other people were injured, according to the local governor. Meanwhile, Russia announced on Friday that it had captured another location in the Donetsk region.