Russia tried on Wednesday to delegitimize United Nations' criticism of its invasion of Ukraine by calling into question the West's actions in a previous conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Vassily Nebenzia, Russia's ambassador to the U.N., criticized other countries including the United States for failing to condemn the 2014 overthrow of Viktor Yanukovich, the pro-Russian Ukrainian president who was ousted by Ukraine's government after months of protests.
The U.N. passed a resolution Wednesday that condemned Russia's invasion and called for an immediate and complete withdrawal of all military forces from Ukraine. Russia forcefully rejected the resolution, calling claims the country was targeting civilians "fake" and saying other countries were hypocritical for supporting the resolution.
An edited clip of Nebenzia's remarks was posted to Twitter and his comment about the United States "where the legitimately elected president of the country was overthrown" was widely misinterpreted to be a reference to Donald Trump's claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
Nebenzia targeted the resolution for not mentioning the "illegal coup" in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, in 2014. The "Revolution of Honor" began with students pushing then-President Yanukovych and then-Prime Minister Mykola Azarov to sign an agreement with the European Union. It snowballed into a revolution that overthrew the government, sparking a counterrevolution in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine and Russia's annexation of Crimea.
Nebenzia accused the United States, Poland, France and Germany of conniving with Ukrainians in a coup. All four countries voted in favor of the resolution condemning Russia's aggression.
Along with calling out supposed "hypocrisy" on the resolution, Nebenzia said the information being disseminated about the conflict is inaccurate. He claimed that the Russian military isn't targeting civilians in its attacks and that contrary information is the result of internet "fakes."
"Don't believe the large number of fakes spread around the internet on this," the ambassador said.
Ukraine's State Emergency Service estimates at least 2,000 Ukrainian civilians have died since Russia launched the attack last week, although the United Nations estimates the death toll to be much lower.
"Most of these casualties were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems and airstrikes," the U.N. high commissioner for human rights said on Tuesday.
To help aid the country in its fight against Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said any Ukrainian who wanted to fight would be given a weapon. He also promised release of certain prison inmates if they committed to joining the resistance against Russian troops. Ukrainians in general have mounted strong and relentless opposition to the Russian forces, with images showing even unarmed civilians trying to stop the troops' advances.
Meanwhile, Sergiy Kyslytsya, the Ukrainian permanent representative to the U.N., urged countries to not turn a blind eye to the fight, warning that "evil will never stop."
Correction: 3/9; 12:45 p.m. The original version of this story inaccurately stated that Ambassador Nebenzia was referring to the "overthrow" of President Trump. The headline and story have been corrected.
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