U.S. at UN: Russia could not sustain its war without support from North Korea, Iran and China

Ambassador Robert Wood, Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs at the U.S. Mission to the UN, stated this at a meeting of the UN Security Council, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

The diplomat said that Russia’s pretense that “it is assistance to Ukraine and not its own aggression that is prolonging the war” is disingenuous and cynical.

He noted that Russia conveniently omits the fact that over 140 countries have repeatedly condemned its aggression against Ukraine and called for its immediate withdrawal from Ukraine’s internationally-recognized territory.

“It doesn’t fit Moscow’s narrative that it is fighting ‘the West.’ It doesn’t fit Moscow’s narrative that it is somehow the victim, as it attempts to brutally subjugate another UN Member State,” he said.

Russia distracts – “right out of the Russian playbook that we all know,” Wood added.  This includes Moscow’s procurement of Iranian drones last year in violation of UN Resolution, as well as its continued violation of multiple resolutions regarding unlawful arms transfers from the DPRK.

Since last December, Russian forces have used DPRK ballistic missiles to strike Ukraine nearly a dozen times, he said.

Since last September, Russia has procured over 11,000 shipping containers of munitions and related materiel from the DPRK, in violation of the UN arms embargo, Wood explained.

In April, the UN Committee Panel of Experts inspected debris in Ukraine from a missile fired into Kharkiv. Per the reports, the Panel conclusively determined the debris was from a DPRK Hwasong 11-series ballistic missile.

“And we all know the export of such missiles constitute a violation of the UN arms embargo on the DPRK,” he stressed.

When the Panel of Experts began reporting on these violations, Russia vetoed the renewal of the Panel’s mandate, the diplomat noted.

He also underscored that in May, the United States imposed sanctions on Russia for its use of chemical weapons against Ukraine, including chloropicrin, calling these actions “blatant violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention”.

The United States is also concerned by reports that Russia seeks to procure ballistic missiles from Iran, Wood added.

“We are also deeply concerned about the massive support China is providing to Russia to rebuild its defense industrial base. The overwhelming majority of machine tools and microelectronics the Russian military is getting from abroad are coming from China,” he said.

As reported by Ukrinform, on Monday, Russia once again convened a meeting of the UN Security Council to try to "condemn" the provision of assistance to Ukraine.

The mandate of a United Nations panel to monitor the implementation of sanctions against North Korea expired on April 30, following Russia's veto of its continuation.