UNITED NATIONS — Ukraine’s ambassador told the world that if his country is crushed, international peace and democracy are in peril, as the United Nations General Assembly held a rare emergency session in a day of frenzied — and sometimes fractious — diplomacy at the U.N. about the five-day-old war.

Ukraine “is paying now the ultimate price for freedom and security of itself and all the world,” Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said at the assembly’s first emergency meeting in decades.

“If Ukraine does not survive … international peace will not survive. If Ukraine does not survive, the United Nations will not survive,” he said. “Have no illusions. If Ukraine does not survive, we cannot be surprised if democracy fails next.”

His pleas came as both the 193-nation General Assembly and the more powerful 15-member Security Council met Monday to discuss the war, and the U.N. Human Rights Council voted in Geneva to hold its own urgent session.

In a sign of the tension permeating the diplomatic discourse, the council meeting opened with the news that the United States was kicking out 12 Russian U.N. diplomats whom Washington accuses of spying.

Meanwhile, Russian and Ukrainian officials held talks on the Belarus border, agreeing only to keep talking.

“The guns are talking now, but the path of dialogue must always remain open,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the assembly. “We need peace now.”

Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia reiterated his country’s assertions that what it calls a “special military operation” in defense of two breakaway areas in eastern Ukraine is being misrepresented.

“Russian actions are being distorted and thwarted,” he complained. Russia has repeatedly sought to blame Ukraine for what Moscow claims are abuses of Russian speakers in the eastern enclaves.

“The Russian Federation did not begin these hostilities that were unleashed by Ukraine against its own residents,” he said. “Russia is seeking to end this war.”

The assembly session will give all U.N. members an opportunity to speak about the war — more than 100 signed up to do so — and to vote later in the week on a resolution coordinated by European Union envoys, working with Ukraine.

The draft resolution, obtained by The Associated Press, demands that Russia immediately stop its attack on Ukraine and withdraw all troops and urges an “immediate peaceful resolution” through dialogue and negotiations. It deplores what it calls Russia’s “aggression” and the “involvement” of Belarus, which is siding with Moscow.

Many countries’ envoys exhorted their colleagues to vote yes.

“Many of us have good relations with Russia. We love the culture, admire the traditions and have good Russian friends,” Austrian Ambassador Alexander Marschik told the assembly. “But a good friend, an honest friend, will speak up and say what needs to be said and what needs to be done when a friend commits and illegal and evil act.”

But China, a close ally of Russia, called for fostering “conditions conducive to direct talks between the parties concerned,” frowning on “any approach that may exacerbate tensions.”

“The Cold War has long ended,” Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun said. “Nothing can be gained from stirring up a new Cold War, but everyone will stand to lose.”

The Security Council meeting later Monday was focused on the humanitarian impact of Russia’s invasion. But it began shortly after it emerged that the United States was expelling a dozen Russian diplomats assigned to the U.N.

Nebenzia bristled to the council that the expulsions were “yet another hostile step” by Washington — and pronounced “not satisfactory” the explanation offered by U.S. Deputy Ambassador Richard Mills: that the 12 were engaged in activities that didn’t accord with diplomatic responsibilities.

Mills didn’t elaborate, but Olivia Dalton, a spokesperson for the United States’ U.N. mission, later said in a statement that the 12 were “intelligence operatives” who were “engaging in espionage activities that are adverse to our national security.”

With the U.N. saying the war is creating a massive humanitarian and refugee crisis, France and Mexico planned to propose a Security Council resolution. French Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said Sunday it would “demand the end of hostilities, protection of civilians, and safe and unhindered humanitarian access to meet the urgent needs of the population.”

Both meetings follow Russia’s veto Friday of a Security Council resolution similar to the one now going before the assembly. The council vote was 11-1, with China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstaining.

Last week, Ukraine asked for an emergency General Assembly session under a 1950 measure that allows the assembly to consider matters of international peace and security when the Security Council is stalemated because of a lack of unanimity among its five veto-wielding permanent members — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.

“With the Security Council having failed to deliver against its responsibilities, we, the General Assembly, must now stand up to play our part,” said New Zealand’s ambassador, Carolyn Schwalger.

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