UNITED NATIONS (AP) — After three days in which the war in Ukraine consumed world leaders at the United Nations, other conflicts and concerns are beginning to emerge.

Some are long-simmering ones with global reach that have receded from the public’s attention recently. Israel’s prime minister called for the establishment of a Palestinian state in a speech Thursday that focused on that conflict. The Palestinian president speaks on Friday.

Others are regional conflicts that have flared. Armenia’s prime minister warned that “the risk of new aggression by Azerbaijan remains very high” after the largest outbreak of hostilities between the two adversaries in nearly two years. The ex-Soviet countries are locked in conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994.

Leaders from Iraq and Pakistan, meanwhile, take the stage Friday. Both nations are pivotal to the geopolitical world order but have received less global attention in recent years.

The annual gathering of leaders at the U.N. General Assembly provides an opportunity for each country to air its concerns and express its hopes. This year’s meeting has thus far focused heavily on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing war, as countries have deplored how the conflict has upended the geopolitical order, repeatedly raised the specter of nuclear disaster and unleashed food and energy crises.

Russia and Ukraine faced off Thursday at a Security Council meeting — an extraordinary if brief encounter during which the top diplomats from nations at war were in the same room exchanging barbs and accusations, albeit not directly to each other.

At the meeting, the United States called on other nations to tell Russia to stop making nuclear threats and end “the horror” of its war. Moscow repeated its frequent claims that Kyiv has long oppressed Russian speakers in Ukraine’s east — one of the explanations Vladimir Putin’s government has offered for the invasion.

The Security Council meeting came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking to the assembled leaders via video, insisted that his forces would win the war and demanded more robust U.N. action. The General Assembly gave Zelenskyy a pass from leaving his wartime nation so he could appear remotely — a decision Russia opposed.

Meanwhile, over in the assembly hall, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid delivered a speech focused on the Palestinians.

The speech, ahead of Nov. 1 elections, appeared to be part of an effort by Lapid to portray himself — both to voters and global leaders — as a statesman and moderate alternative to his main rival, hardline former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“An agreement with the Palestinians, based on two states for two peoples, is the right thing for Israel’s security, for Israel’s economy and for the future of our children,” Lapid said.

But he was short on details, and there is virtually no chance Lapid, who has long supported a two-state solution, will get to push forward with his vision. Israel’s parliament is dominated by parties that oppose Palestinian independence, and opinion polls forecast a similar result after the upcoming elections.

The Palestinians seek the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip — territories captured by Israel in 1967 — for an independent state, a position that enjoys wide international support.

___

Story: Sarah Dilorenzo.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — French President Emanuel Macron admonished countries Tuesday not to stay neutral about condemning Russia’s war in Ukraine as he declared that Moscow’s invasion amounts to a new form of imperialism.

Speaking to the U.N. General Assembly gathering of world leaders, Macron also insisted that any negotiation to end the more than six-month-old war can succeed only “if Ukraine’s sovereignty is respected, its territory liberated and its security protected.”

The war in Ukraine — and its effects on food prices, fuel costs, Ukrainian nuclear power plants, and the larger context of tensions between Russia and the West — is looming over the annual gathering of presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and other dignitaries. Neither Russia nor Ukraine has yet had its turn to speak during the nearly weeklong series of speeches.

Macron made the war the centerpiece of his speech, arguing that the conflict threatens to usher in a world where “the security and sovereignty of everyone no longer depends on a balance of strength, on the strength of alliances, but rather that of armed groups and militias.”

“Who here can defend the idea that the invasion of Ukraine justifies no sanction?” he asked. “Who of you here can consider that the day when something similar with a more powerful neighbor happens to you, there’ll be silence from the region, from the world?”

Speaking before him were leaders from Africa who said they do not want their continent to be “the breeding ground of a new Cold War” as nations pressure countries around the world take sides in the conflict.

So far, Africa has stayed somewhat neutral on Ukraine. The former Soviet Union backed many African movements that fought to end colonial rule, and Russia’s foreign minister has voiced support for reform of the U.N. Security Council to give African countries permanent seats and greater influence.

In two General Assembly votes soon after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, about 140 of the U.N.’s member nations overwhelmingly deplored Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, called for an immediate cease-fire and withdrawal of all Russian forces, and urged protection for millions of civilians. But more than 30 countries abstained, including China, India and South Africa.

On April 7, some 58 nations abstained from voting on a measure calling for Russia’s suspension from the Human Rights Council. It passed, 93-24.

Macron called on the United Nations’ member countries “to act so that Russia rejects the path of war,” and he said that staying out of the matter isn’t an option.

“Those who are keeping silent today actually are, in a way, complicit with a cause of a new imperialism, a new order that is trampling over the current order, and there’s no peace possible here,” he said. “The war in Ukraine must not be a conflict that leaves anyone indifferent.”

“We’re not talking about choosing a camp here between the East and the West, between the North or the South, either,” the French president insisted. “What we’re talking about is everybody’s responsibility — everybody who’s committed to the respect of the (U.N.) Charter and our common, precious good: peace.”

Macron spoke shortly after Russian-controlled regions of eastern and southern Ukraine announced plans to start voting this week to become integral parts of Russia.

The Kremlin-backed votes, in territory Russia already controls, are virtually certain to go Moscow’s way. Western leaders who are backing Ukraine with military and other support have dismissed the votes as illegitimate.

“Russia declared war, it invaded this region, it bombed it, it killed people, it made other people flee, and now it explains that, in this same region, it is going to organize a referendum,” Macron told reporters before his speech. “If this were not tragic, we could laugh.”

___

Story: Jennifer Peltz. Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer contributed to this report.