War in Ukraine and the UN: How Germany’s voice gained weight

Shortly before the start of the Ukraine war, members of the UN Security Council tried to stop Russia from invading. Germany’s ambassador Leendertse remembers the dramatic hours.

It was this note that made the rounds. The silent post amidst the loud appeals. Germany’s UN Ambassador Antje Leendertse will never forget the moment on the evening of February 23 when she received the note from her colleague: Rocket hits in Kiev.

At the time, the German envoy was a guest at a special session of the Security Council. A final attempt to prevent war becomes an unforgettable moment: “We started the session before the war had started and we ended it when the war had started,” she says.

Speeches had to be changed

Hope turned to bewilderment. While the members of the Council’s round table were still appealing to Russia, President Vladimir Putin launched the first rockets. Ukrainian Ambassador to the UN Sergiy Kyslytsya stared palely at his cell phone. February 24 and a new time began in his homeland.

“We started at 9 p.m., that’s about 3 a.m. and from 4 a.m. there were already clear reports and notes circulating,” says Leendertse. She wasn’t the only one who had to quickly change her forthcoming speech.

All appeals to Russia at the beginning of the session to keep the peace, not to invade, not to undertake an invasion and not to undertake aggressive actions had to be turned into calls to stop the war now, says Germany’s UN ambassador.

Strong voice in the Security Council

It will henceforth be the central message of supporters of Ukraine. Although Germany is not currently a member of the Security Council, it has had a strong voice there since the beginning of the war. Leendertse and her deputy Thomas Zahneisen have spoken before the most powerful UN body 14 times since the outbreak of war.

They also attend all meetings of the Emergency General Assembly. “Of course, we also got involved in the resolutions that were then passed in these meetings, sometimes with an overwhelming majority condemning the war,” says Leendertse.

Fight against Russian propaganda

The fact that Germany is so often on the stage of the Council is also due to the fact that it was heavily involved in the previous Minsk agreement between the warring parties. “But since then there have been many meetings where other Europeans have also spoken,” says Leendertse.

That was important to counter the Kremlin’s narrative that it was actually about a conflict with the West, explains the ambassador. Accordingly, the Europeans are only the underage vassals of the USA who would follow.

According to Russia, all statements by Europeans are therefore irrelevant, Leendertse summarizes the Russian propaganda. But the Europeans had made it clear: That is not the case.

“Want politics on an equal footing”

“We are not additional voices here, we are perhaps the ones who are more credible even for the people of Russia than the permanent members,” says Leendertse. Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also made an impression when she spoke to the General Assembly in March – shortly after the start of the war.

She was there to condemn the Russian aggression, Leendertse says. “And at the same time to say: We want politics on an equal footing with those who are affected outside of Ukraine and we want to listen to each other.”

Food security was an important issue at the time. This is exactly what many countries in the Global South are still concerned with. They worry that the war will overshadow their needs.

141 states condemned Russia’s invasion

The anti-war alliance came together anyway. On March 2, 141 UN member states condemned Russian aggression in the General Assembly’s first emergency special session. One of the most moving moments of the past year for the German Ambassador Leendertse.

“The EU put toys and stuffed animals on our tables there in memory of the children who fell victim to the first attacks. And I remember that very much, what a symbolic effect it had.”

It showed everyone that it’s not just about numbers or the UN Charter, but that many children are also victims of this war and people suffer from it.