U.S. President Joe Biden has accused Russia of trying to destroy Ukraine’s right to exist as an independent country.
“This war is about extinguishing Ukraine’s right to exist as a state – plain and simple – and Ukraine’s right to exist as a people,’’ Biden said at the United Nations in New York on Wednesday.
“Whoever you are, wherever you live, whatever you believe, that should make your blood run cold.’’
Biden said that Russia must be held accountable for any war crimes committed in Ukraine, adding that Washington was working on it with its international partners.
The U.S. president was addressing the 77th General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly.
He said that Moscow had violated the UN Charter.
In a break with tradition, Biden’s appearance came on the second day of the high-level annual diplomatic event instead of the first.
The delay was due to Biden’s attendance of Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral in London on Monday.
Meanwhile the Central Bank of Iran on Wednesday confirmed a cyber attack on its systems that briefly took the institution’s website offline.
A bank spokesperson told the Tasnim news agency that the institution was the target of a denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, which overwhelmed the victims’ servers with a flood of data requests to cripple them.
A hacker group claimed responsibility in a Telegram channel, citing solidarity with ongoing nationwide protests in Iran following the death of a young woman who was arrested by the morality police.
Other Iranian government websites were also said to be the target of attacks on Wednesday, but official information was not given.
