Russia and West clash over Ukraine at Security Council meeting ahead of war anniversary

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia is accusing the West of sabotaging agreements that would have prevented the war in Ukraine – but the U.S. and its allies put the blame squarely on Moscow, saying there is no escaping that President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion. Russia called Monday’s U.N. Security Council meeting on the seventh anniversary of the signing of the Minsk peace plan. It aimed to resolve conflicts between Ukraine and Russia-backed separatists that flared in 2014 after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its support for Donbas separatists. Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia again put the cause of the war down to failure to implement the 2015 Minsk agreements, while U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood accused Russia of offering myths and disinformation.