The Federal Government has called on the Russian troops to ‘pull back’ from its ‘aggressive’ attacks on Ukraine.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama said this on Friday at a press briefing in Abuja.
The Minister had earlier met with the envoys from various countries including the United Kingdom and the United States.
The Minister also met with the Ukrainian ambassador to Nigeria, Kirdoda Valerii, and his Russian counterpart, Alexei Shebarshin.
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He said the Nigerian government during the meeting called for peace and the use of diplomacy in resolving differences between Russia and Ukraine.
“We made it clear that Nigeria does not condone this aggression and urged the Russians to pull back and stop the intervention. We have diplomatic relations with Ukraine. It’s a member of the United Nations, as well as Russia of course.
“We urge that peace be prioritised by the two sides and we are very sad that the diplomatic process that was ongoing before this attack was cut short.
“We support every effort being made to stop the aggression and that the Russian troops return to Russia.
“We recognise the sovereignty of Ukraine and the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” Onyeama said.
Russian President, Vladimir Putin, in the early hours of Thursday, ordered an invasion of Ukraine. The invasion was marked by shelling and rocket attacks on several Ukrainian major cities, including the capital, Kyiv.
Saturday marks the third day of the invasion where according to the Ukrainian Health Minister, 198 civilians including three children have been confirmed dead.
Russia also brushed off the barrage of Western sanctions and said it had fired cruise missiles at military targets.
According to NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, Ukrainian forces are putting up resistance and inflicting damage on Russia’s military as it seeks to push deeper into the country.
– ‘Moment of peril’ –
Putin had for weeks defied a barrage of international criticism over the crisis, with some Western leaders saying he was no longer rational.
His announcement of the military operation came ahead of a last-ditch summit involving European Union leaders in Brussels planned for Thursday.
The 27-nation bloc had also imposed sanctions on Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu and high-ranking figures including the commanders of Russia’s army, navy, and air force, another part of the wave of Western punishment after Putin sought to rewrite Ukraine’s borders.
The United Nations Security Council met late Wednesday for its second emergency session in three days over the crisis, with a personal plea thereby UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to Putin going unheeded.
“President Putin, stop your troops from attacking Ukraine, give peace a chance, too many people have already died,” Guterres said.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, warned that an all-out Russian invasion could displace five million people, triggering a new European refugee crisis.
Before Putin’s announcement, Ukraine had urged its approximately three million citizens living in Russia to leave.
Western capitals said Russia had amassed 150,000 troops in combat formations on Ukraine’s borders with Russia, Belarus, and Russian-occupied Crimea and on warships in the Black Sea.
Moscow’s total forces are much larger — around a million active-duty personnel — and have been modernised and re-armed in recent years.
