US ambassador to the UN says Russia has ‘nothing to celebrate’ on Victory Day

The US ambassador to the United Nations told CNN that as Russia prepared to celebrate its national Victory Day holiday, Moscow has “nothing to celebrate”, highlighting the scores of losses the nation has suffered in recent weeks in its ongoing war with Ukraine.

While hosting his CNN Sunday morning show, State of the Union, host Jake Tapper asked his guest Linda Thomas-Greenfield for her views on Russia preparing to celebrate Victory Day, one of the largest celebrations in the country, amid a military invasion that was initially sold to the country as a quick operation but has now stretched on for nearly three months.

“The Russians have escalated throughout this process, and part of that escalation has been a consequence of their failures,” the UN ambassador began.

“They have nothing to celebrate tomorrow. They have not succeeded in defeating the Ukrainians. They’ve not succeeded in dividing the world, or dividing NATO, and they have only succeeded in isolating themselves internationally and becoming a pariah state around the globe.”

“So what they’re celebrating tomorrow is their own lack of success.”

In the same interview, the CNN host also asked Ms Thomas-Greenfield about comments made by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pressuring the Biden administration to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, remarks that she made after a visit to Ukraine earlier this month.

The host pointed out that these comments from the US House speaker come after many international observers, including the US and Canada, have called out some of President Vladimir Putin’s military actions since the 24 February invasion as amounting to war crimes.

“I think Russia has put itself on that list of state sponsors of terror. They are carrying out terror acts against the Ukrainian people, against Ukrainian civilians,” the UN ambassador began, before adding that she does not view it as “not necessary for us to put them on”.

Mr Tapper, not backing down, pressed further and asked more directly: “So you think that they deserve to be on the list, but you’re not saying that the Biden administration is going to put them on the list?”

Ms Thomas-Greenfield, however, dodged the question and again reiterated what the administration has said before, without going as far to confirm whether they’d take Ms Pelosi up on her request to add Russia to the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

“They certainly deserve to be called out for the acts of terror that they are committing,” she said. “And what we have seen you and others reporting is unconscionable, and they need to be held to account for it.”

Russian troops regrouped last month ahead of Monday’s Victory Day celebrations and instead turned their ambitions toward Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region after suffering defeats in their bid to take over the capital of Kyiv.

Ms Thomas-Greenfield’s remarks on the ongoing conflict arrived as first lady Jill Biden became the highest-profile US political figure to visit war-torn Ukraine when she made a surprise trip to the country’s western region on Sunday.

While speaking with her Ukrainian counterpart, first lady Olena Zelenska, Dr Biden reiterated her country’s commitment to standing by the Ukrainian people.

“I thought it was important to show the Ukrainian people that this war has to stop and this war has been brutal and that the people of the United States stand with the people of Ukraine,” Dr Biden said.

The Biden administration has been a public champion of the Ukrainian cause, providing military aid and humanitarian relief at a bill tallying at least a couple billion dollars, which is only expected to increase as a $33bn package for the nation was introduced last month.