As U.N. Security Council met, Russia attacked Ukraine

The United States and other United Nations Security Council members slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday for attacking Ukraine as the 15-member body met in New York to try and defuse weeks of mounting tensions. "At the exact time as we are gathered in the council seeking peace, Putin delivered a message of war in total disdain for the responsibility of this Council. This is a grave emergency," U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council. In an address on Russian state TV, broadcast at the same time as the U.N. Security Council began its meeting in New York, Putin announced his military operation in eastern Ukraine. Russian forces fired missiles at several Ukrainian cities and landed troops on its south coast.  U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters after the council meeting it was "the saddest moment" in his more than five years in the job, appealing: "President Putin, in the name of humanity bring your troops back to Russia." "This conflict must stop now," he said. Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia notified the council of Moscow's move during the meeting, justifying it under Article 51 of the U.N. Charter, which covers individual or collective self-defense by states against armed attack.

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