UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Ukraine’s president dismissed the notion of peace talks with Moscow on Tuesday, calling instead for unspecified global “action” to force Russia into peace for invading his country and to comply with the U.N. Charter’s requirement that every country respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all other nations.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the U.N. Security Council that Russian President Vladimir Putin is committing “an international crime” and has broken so many international rules that he won’t stop on his own.
“And that’s why this war can’t simply fade away. That’s why this war can’t be calmed by talks,” Zelenskyy said at a meeting on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders at the General Assembly. “Russia can only be forced into peace, and that is exactly what’s needed — forcing Russia into peace as the sole aggressor in this war, the sole violator of the U.N. Charter.”
The high-level meeting on the more than 2½-year war in Ukraine was attended by ministers from 14 of the council's 15 member nations. Russia chose to send its lower-level U.N. ambassador.
Vassily Nebenzia opened the meeting protesting that Zelenskyy was being given the U.N. spotlight again. He also criticized Slovenia — which holds the rotating council presidency this month — for allowing the Ukrainian leader's "chorus” to speak. He meant about 10 European Union and NATO members who aren’t on the council but march “in lockstep” every time they come to the council “to malign the Russian Federation.”
“When it comes to listening to these hackneyed statements, and these cookie-cutter statements, we have no intention of wasting time on that,” Nebenzia said.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres briefed the council, reiterating the United Nations’ strong support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity under the U.N. Charter.
“Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 – following the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and city of Sevastopol a decade ago – is a clear violation of these principles,” the U.N. chief said.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine knows some countries want to talk to Putin. But, he asked, “What could they possibly hear from him — that he’s upset because we are exercising our right to defend our people, or that he wants to keep the war and terror going just so no one thinks he was wrong?”
China has repeatedly called for talks between Ukraine and Russia. Its foreign minister, Wang Yi, told the council that the suffering and destruction and increasing volatility in the region "must be turned around.”
Wang stressed that Chinese President Xi Jinping believes “the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries should be respected.” China is pursuing peace talks and conducting shuttle diplomacy, Wang said, and its efforts have received wide international support. He pointed to a joint China-Brazil peace plan issued earlier this year.
Zelenskyy also went after countries that supply weapons and ammunition to Russia, telling the council Moscow has no legitimate reason to make Iran and North Korea “de facto accomplices.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised similar issues but also accused China, which has close ties to Russia, of providing Russia with machine tools, microelectronics and other items it is using “to rebuild, restock and ramp up its war machine and sustain its brutal war.”
Wang, who spoke after him, didn't directly respond but said: “I also wish to make it clear that on the Ukraine issue, any move to shift responsibility onto China or attack and smear China is irresponsible and will lead nowhere.”
Blinken also accused Iran of providing armed drones to Russia since 2022 and transferring hundreds of short-range ballistic missiles a few weeks ago – which its new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has denied. North Korea has also delivered trainloads of weapons and ammunition to Russia including ballistic missiles and artillery rounds, Blinken said.
“The more Russia relies on their support, the more Iran and North Korea extract in return,” Blinken said. “And the more Putin gives to Pyongyang and Tehran, the more he exacerbates threats to peace and security.”
To those who ask how the United States and others can help Ukraine defend itself and criticize countries supplying military materiel to Russia, Blinken said the answer is simple: “Russia is the aggressor, Ukraine is the victim.”
Edith M. Lederer, chief U.N. correspondent for The Associated Press, has covered international affairs for more than 50 years. See more of AP’s coverage of the U.N. General Assembly at https://apnews.com/hub/united-nations
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, left, talks with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, far right, before a Security Council meeting, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, at UN headquarters. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, speaks during a Security Council meeting, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, at UN headquarters. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, arrives for a Security Council meeting, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, at UN headquarters. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, attends a Security Council meeting, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, at UN headquarters. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A man who authorities say staked out Donald Trump for 12 hours on his golf course in Florida and wrote of his desire to kill him was indicted Tuesday on an attempted assassination charge.
Ryan Wesley Routh had been initially charged with two federal firearms offenses. The upgraded charges contained in a five-count indictment reflect the Justice Department's assessment that he methodically plotted to kill the Republican nominee, aiming a rifle through the shrubbery surrounding Trump's West Palm Beach golf course on an afternoon Trump was playing on it. Routh left behind a note in which he described his intention, prosecutors said.
Court records show the case has been assigned to Aileen Cannon, a Trump-appointed federal judge who generated intense scrutiny for her handling of a criminal case charging Trump with illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. She dismissed that case in July, a decision now being appealed by special counsel Jack Smith's team.
The attempted assassination indictment had been foreshadowed during a court hearing Monday in which prosecutors successfully argued for the 58-year-old Routh to remain behind bars as a flight risk and a threat to public safety.
They alleged that he had written of his plans to kill Trump in a handwritten note months before his Sept. 15 arrest in which he referred to his actions as a failed “assassination attempt on Donald Trump” and offered $150,000 for anyone who could “finish the job.” That note was in a box that Routh had apparently dropped off at the home of an unidentified witness months before his arrest.
After the attempted assassination, the person opened the box, took a photograph of the front page of the letter — addressed “Dear World” — and contacted law enforcement.
Prosecutors also said Routh kept in his car a handwritten list of venues at which Trump had appeared or was expected to be present in August, September and October.
The charge of attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate carries a potential life sentence in the event of a conviction. Other charges in the indictment include assaulting a federal officer, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and the two original firearms charges he faced last week.
The potential shooting was thwarted when a member of Trump’s Secret Service protective detail spotted a partially obscured man's face and a rifle barrel protruding through the golf course fence line, ahead of where Trump was playing. The agent fired in the direction of Routh, who sped away and was stopped by law enforcement in a neighboring county.
Routh did not fire any rounds and did not have Trump in his line of sight, officials have said. He left behind a digital camera, a backpack, a loaded SKS-style rifle with a scope and a plastic bag containing food.
The arrest came two months after Trump was shot and wounded in the ear in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. The Secret Service has acknowledged failings leading up to that shooting but has said that security worked as it should have to thwart a potential attack in Florida.
The initial charges Routh faced in a criminal complaint accused him of illegally possessing his gun in spite of multiple felony convictions and with possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number. It is common for prosecutors to bring preliminary and easily provable charges upon an arrest and then add more serious offenses later as the investigation develops.
The FBI had said at the outset that it was investigating the episode as an apparent assassination attempt, but the absence of an immediate charge to that effect opened the door for Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to announce his own state-level investigation that he said could produce more serious charges.
Trump, seeking to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the investigation and the Justice Department more broadly, complained Monday — before the attempted assassination charge was brought — that federal prosecutors were “mishandling and downplaying” the case by bringing charges that were a “slap on the wrist.”
Asked at an unrelated press conference about Trump’s criticism Monday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department “would spare no resources to ensure accountability” in the case.
“All of our top priority should be ensuring that accountability occurs in this case and that those who run for office and their families are safe and protected,” Garland said.
The Justice Department also said Monday that authorities who searched Routh's car found six cellphones, including one that showed a Google search of how to travel from Palm Beach County to Mexico.
A notebook found in his car was filled with criticism of the Russian and Chinese governments and notes about how to join the war on behalf of Ukraine.
In addition, prosecutors have cited a book authored by Routh last year in which he lambasted Trump’s approach to foreign policy, including in Ukraine. In the book, he wrote that Iran was “free to assassinate Trump” for having left the nuclear deal.
Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer and Curt Anderson contributed to this report.
Man who staked out Trump at Florida golf course charged with attempting an assassination
Man who staked out Trump at Florida golf course charged with attempting an assassination
Ryan Wesley Routh takes part in a rally in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, April 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
