Blinken Confronts Putin Over "Atrocities"

"The very international order we've gathered here to uphold is being shredded before our eyes," Antony Blinken told the Security Council in a special session as leaders met at the United Nations.

"We cannot -- we will not -- let President Putin get away with it," he said.

The U.S. Secretary of State accused Putin of adding "fuel to the fire" with recent steps including calling up reservists and planning referendums in Russian-held Ukrainian territory just as Kyiv made strong gains on the ground.

The top US diplomat said it was critical to show that "no nation can redraw the borders of another by force."

"If we fail to defend this principle when the Kremlin is so flagrantly violating it, we send the message to aggressors everywhere that they can ignore it, too."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov -- whom Blinken has refused to meet individually since the February invasion -- lashed out at Western accusations.

"There's an attempt today to impose on us a completely different narrative about Russian aggression as the origin of this tragedy," Lavrov told the Security Council.

He accused Ukraine of "Russophobia," including through its imposition of Ukrainian language rules.

"The United States and their allies with the connivance of international human rights organizations have been covering the crimes of the Kyiv regime," Lavrov said.

France, the current head of the Security Council, called the session to highlight the quest for accountability in Ukraine.

"There is no peace without justice," French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna told reporters.

Opening the session, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the UN rights body has seen "a catalog of cruelty -- summary executions, sexual violence, torture and other inhumane and degrading treatment against civilians and prisoners of war.