Ukraine Crisis Is ‘Moment Of Peril' For World, UN Says

The world is facing “a moment of peril” over the Ukraine crisis, the UN warned yesterday, as the White House said Russian troops massed at the border were “ready to go” for a full invasion.

- David Harding, Thomas Kingsley

The UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, told the organisation’s general assembly in New York that it was time for “restraint, reason and de-escalation” to avoid “a scale and severity of need unseen for many years”. “It is time to establish a ceasefire and return to the path of dialogue and negotiation,” he said.

However, there were increasing signs that diplomatic efforts to avoid a war in Europe may be too late. A senior US defence official in Washington said the Russian forces arrayed along Ukraine’s border were “as ready as they can be” for an invasion, with about 80 per cent in “forward positions, ready to go” within three to 30 miles of the border.

In Kiev, Russia began evacuating its embassy and by yesterday afternoon the Russian flag no longer flew over the building.

Ukraine’s national security and defence council chief, Oleksiy Danilov, declared a national state of emergency, which was approved by parliament along with a law allowing citizens to carry firearms. The country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has also called up reservists to the country’s army.