Ukraine war: Kyiv denounces G20 declaration as UN warns of potential nuclear safety threat

G20 declaration on Ukraine: "nothing to be proud of" - Kyiv

Kyiv has criticised the G20 leaders' statement on the war in Ukraine, in which they denounced the use of force, but neglected to mention Russia.

"Ukraine is grateful to the partners who tried to include strong wording in the text. At the same time, regarding Russia's aggression against Ukraine, the G20 has nothing to be proud of,” said a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Oleg Nikolenko.

Nikolenko posted on his Facebook account a modified version of the official communiqué of the G20 summit in New Delhi, with words or expressions crossed out and replaced by others in red, reflecting notions the Ukrainian authorities would have preferred.

Examples included the phrase "concerning the war in Ukraine" becoming "concerning the war against Ukraine", and "all states must refrain from the threat or use of force" replaced by "Russia must refrain...".

The text adopted by the G20 does not explicitly mention Russian "aggression" in Ukraine, a term used in 2022 during the previous G20 summit in Bali.

That use was a reference to a Security Council resolution which had criticised "in the strongest terms strongly condemn the aggression committed by the Russian Federation against Ukraine''.

Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor of the United States, however, welcomed the wording of the text.

“From our point of view, it’s a very good job,” he told reporters.

Nikolenko expressed disappointment, though, adding that he believed it was "obvious that Ukraine's participation in this G20 summit would have allowed the participants to better understand the situation".

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