The UN General Assembly meets Monday hours after Russia launched a missile strikes at cities across Ukraine, as Western countries denounced Moscow's latest attempt to escalate the conflict and seek to stress its isolation, reports AFP.
The urgent meeting was to discuss Russia's annexation of four partly-occupied Ukrainian regions, but the topic is to be less-emphasized by the attacks on Kyiv and other cities which was one of the most damage-induced attacks on Ukraine in months.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged even more "severe" retaliation after the recent explosion that damaged a key bridge in Moscow-annexed Crimea, an attack the Kremlin has blamed on Kyiv.
With Putin's actions in the spotlight, UN debate will open on a draft resolution denouncing what has been widely seen in the West as Russia's illegal seizure of Ukrainian land.
The decision to bring the annexation matter before the General Assembly, where the 193 UN members have one vote each -- and no one wields veto power -- was taken after Russia used its veto in a Security Council meeting September 30 to block a similar proposal.
The vote is expected no sooner than Wednesday.
"It's extremely important," said Olof Skoog, who, as EU ambassador to the world body, drafted the text in cooperation with Ukraine and other countries.
"Unless the UN system and the international community through the General Assembly react to this kind of illegal attempt, then we would be in a very, very bad place," the Swedish diplomat told reporters.
A failure by the General Assembly to act would give "carte blanche to other countries to do likewise or to give recognition to what Russia has done," he added.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
