Blinken to UN Security Council: Don’t Be Fooled by Calls for Unconditional Ceasefire in Ukraine

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a Security Council meeting concerning the war in Ukraine at United Nations headquarters on February 24, 2023 in New York City. (Getty Images via AFP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a Security Council meeting concerning the war in Ukraine at United Nations headquarters on February 24, 2023 in New York City. (Getty Images via AFP)
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Blinken to UN Security Council: Don’t Be Fooled by Calls for Unconditional Ceasefire in Ukraine

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a Security Council meeting concerning the war in Ukraine at United Nations headquarters on February 24, 2023 in New York City. (Getty Images via AFP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a Security Council meeting concerning the war in Ukraine at United Nations headquarters on February 24, 2023 in New York City. (Getty Images via AFP)

The UN Security Council should not be fooled by calls for a temporary or unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine and should not fall into the “false equivalency” of calling on both sides to stop fighting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the council on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion on Friday.

Russia will use any pause in fighting to consolidate control of territory and replenish its forces, Blinken said after China called for a ceasefire as part of a position paper on the war.

"No member of this council should call for peace while supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine and on the UN Charter," Blinken said.



Lawyer: South Korea's Yoon to Accept Court Decision Even if it Ends Presidency

Yoon Kab-keun, lawyer for South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, attends a press conference in Seoul on January 9, 2025. (Photo by JUNG YEON-JE / AFP)
Yoon Kab-keun, lawyer for South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, attends a press conference in Seoul on January 9, 2025. (Photo by JUNG YEON-JE / AFP)
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Lawyer: South Korea's Yoon to Accept Court Decision Even if it Ends Presidency

Yoon Kab-keun, lawyer for South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, attends a press conference in Seoul on January 9, 2025. (Photo by JUNG YEON-JE / AFP)
Yoon Kab-keun, lawyer for South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, attends a press conference in Seoul on January 9, 2025. (Photo by JUNG YEON-JE / AFP)

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will accept the decision of the Constitutional Court that is trying parliament's impeachment case against him, even if it decides to remove the suspended leader from office, his lawyer said on Thursday.
"So if the decision is 'removal', it cannot but be accepted," Yoon Kab-keun, the lawyer for Yoon, told a news conference, when asked if Yoon would accept whatever the outcome of trial was.
Yoon has earlier defied the court's requests to submit legal briefs before the court began its hearing on Dec. 27, but his lawyers have said he was willing to appear in person to argue his case.
The suspended president has defied repeated summons in a separate criminal investigation into allegations he masterminded insurrection with his Dec. 3 martial law bid.
Yoon, the lawyer, said the president is currently at his official residence and appeared healthy, amid speculation over the suspended leader's whereabouts.
Presidential security guards resisted an initial effort to arrest Yoon last week though he faces another attempt after a top investigator vowed to do whatever it takes to break a security blockade and take in the embattled leader.
Seok Dong-hyeon, another lawyer advising Yoon, said Yoon viewed the attempts to arrest him as politically motivated and aimed at humiliating him by bringing him out in public wearing handcuffs.