Kuleba called for a minute’s silence to honor the “victims of aggression” at Friday’s session, marking the one-year anniversary of the invasion by Vladimir Putin and the Russian army. All the members of the council rose to their feet and ignored the expelled Russian UN envoy Vassily Nebenzyu. Eyewitnesses also report that the Russian envoy beat rhythmically on the microphone even during the minute of silence, thus disturbing the honoring of the dead.
As the moment of silence ended, the Russian envoy insisted that the moment of silence was necessary for “all those who died in the conflict”, including those who have died since 2014.
The members of the assembly rose to their feet again, but there was clearly some confusion in the hall.
According to the UN, more than 8,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and 13,000 wounded in Ukraine since the invasion began a year ago, but the actual civilian casualties are likely to be significantly higher.
In addition, both sides are believed to have lost tens of thousands of soldiers in the brutal fighting. Recent British estimates show that Russia alone lost around 200,000 soldiers killed or wounded.
