UN Showdown Looms Between Lavrov, West Over Atrocities In Ukraine

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will face off on Thursday with his Ukrainian and Western counterparts, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, when the United Nations Security Council meets over atrocities committed in Ukraine.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan will brief the 15-member body, which is meeting during the annual gathering of world leaders for the U.N. General Assembly.

Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 as the Security Council met in New York to discuss Western concerns that Moscow was planning such a move.

"A crime has been committed against Ukraine, and we demand just punishment," Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the assembly on Wednesday in a recorded video. "The crime was committed against the lives of our people. The crime was committed against the dignity of our women and men."