Russia-Ukraine war: A high-ranking UN official urged Russia and Ukraine to cease the ongoing conflict through dialogue and diplomacy at a Security Council meeting called by Russia on Friday to discuss the United States' alleged military biological research in Ukraine.
"The need for negotiations to stop the war in Ukraine could not be more urgent," stated UN Undersecretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo at the meeting, adding that three rounds of talks held thus far between Ukrainian and Russian delegations must be intensified to secure humanitarian and ceasefire arrangements as a priority.
"The logic of dialogue and diplomacy must prevail over the logic of war," she asserted.
On March 6, Russian Ministry of Defense Spokesperson Major General Igor Konashenkov claimed that his country's military had uncovered evidence of US-funded military biological operations in Ukraine, including documents confirming the development of "biological weapons components."
Regarding these concerns, the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, stated that "the United Nations is not aware of any biological weapons programs."
Since the Biological Weapons Convention entered into force in 1975, biological weapons have been banned. With 183 states parties to the treaty, biological weapons are "universally seen as being abhorrent and illegitimate," she added.
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In response to other issues, Nakamitsu warned that a nuclear-related accident in Ukraine might have serious effects on public health and the environment and that all precautions must be taken to prevent it.
"The possibility of an accident caused by failure to a reactor's power supply or the inability to provide regular maintenance is growing by the day," she asserted, adding "The forces in effective control of nuclear power plants in Ukraine must ensure their safe and secure operation."
Vassily Nebenzia, Russia's permanent representative to the United Nations, said his delegation convened the meeting after discovering a "truly shocking" emergency clean-up by authorities in Kyiv of traces of a military biological program carried out in Ukraine and funded by the Pentagon.
He claimed that the Russian Ministry of Defense has documents on its website confirming that a network of 30 biological labs across Ukraine were conducting "very dangerous" experiments using synthetic biology to improve the pathogenic qualities of plague, anthrax, cholera and other deadly diseases.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States' permanent representative to the United Nations, refuted these claims, saying, Ukraine does not have a biological weapons programme. There are no Ukrainian biological weapons laboratories supported by the United States."
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