‘Totally unacceptable’: UN chief on talks of nuclear conflict in Russia-Ukraine

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday told a security council meeting on Ukraine that the talk of a nuclear conflict is “totally unacceptable”.

According to the UN chief, “any annexation of a state’s territory by another state through the threat or use of force is a violation of the UN Charter and international law.”

Guterres also urged a probe into the ‘catalog of cruelty’ in the Ukraine war. “Reports from the UN rights body shows a ‘catalog of cruelty’ – summary executions, sexual violence, torture, and other inhumane and degrading treatment against civilians and prisoners of war,” he said.

Without directly pointing a finger at Russia, Guterres said that “all the allegations must be thoroughly investigated, to ensure accountability” and that “victims and their families have a right to justice, remedy and reparation”.

This comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rare address on Wednesday where he said that the “decree on the partial mobilisation of its 2 million-strong military reserves has been signed to fight the war in Ukraine”. Putin said that the announcement was taken to “defend the motherland, its sovereignty and territorial integrity” of Russia.

“We are talking about partial mobilization, that is, only citizens who are currently in the reserve will be subject to conscription, and above all, those who served in the armed forces have a certain military specialty and relevant experience,” Putin had said.

While some world leaders have condemned Russia’s ‘partial mobilisation’ announcement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he does not believe the world will allow the latter to use nuclear weapons.