Munich Security Conference Day 2: Harris says Russia committed 'crimes against humanity' in Ukraine

UN World Food Programme Chief David Beasley speaks to WION at Munich Conference. 

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Azerbaijan President shares with WION his doubts on embassy attack in Iran, wants fair probe. 

An attack on Azerbaijan's embassy in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on January 27, left one dead and two others injured. WION spoke with Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and asked him on whom the onus lies for the tension between Azerbaijan and Iran.

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Pakistani foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari weighed in on the prospects of attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in India this year. 

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Sunak and Harris highlighted the strength of their alliance and their common ground on support for Ukraine as they met for the first time at the conference. 

The annual conference has so far been dominated by the global response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine as the war grinds towards its second year.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that Britain offered to help other countries which were willing to send aircraft to Ukraine now. He also urged the allies to maintain their support in the war against Russia. 

"Where other countries are able to provide aircraft immediately, the United Kingdom will happily support them in doing that," he said at the conference. 

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US Vice President Kamala Harris claimed that Russia committed "crimes against humanity" in Ukraine with its forces having conducted "widespread and systemic" attacks on the country's civilian population. 

She said, "The US has formally determined that Russia has committed crimes against humanity." 

Kamala Harris said, "Kyiv is still standing. Russia is weakened. The transatlantic alliance is stronger than ever. And most importantly: The spirit of the Ukrainian people endures." 

China's top diplomat Wang Yi said that Washington's reaction to what the United States has called a Chinese spy balloon as "hysterical and absurd".

"There are many balloons from many countries in the sky. Do you want to down each and every one of them?" Wang said.

"We urge the United States not to do such preposterous things simply to divert attention from its own domestic problems," he added. 

WION is reporting from Munich to get first-hand information. 

Watch this interview of Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg on the sidelines of the conference. 

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen also addressed the security conference. She said that the allies must "double down" on military support for Ukraine, as it fights back against Russian forces. 

"We have to double down and we have to continue the really massive support that is necessary (so) that these imperialistic plans of (President Vladimir) Putin will completely fail," she said. 

According to speech seen by news agency AFP, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg will tell the Munich Security Conference on Saturday that Russia's invasion of Ukraine has exposed the dangers of Europe's over-reliance on authoritarian regimes and should serve as a lesson. 

"We should not make the same mistake with China and other authoritarian regimes," he will say.  

The annual security conference opened on Friday and the focus remained on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, with French President Emmanuel Macron stating that the time was not right for dialogue with Russia as Moscow is intensifying its attacks against Ukraine. 

However, he suggested that it was necessary to already begin preparing the terms of peace for Ukraine.

But also asked the allies to continue to back Ukraine in its fight against Russia. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also joined the opening session virtually as he urged world leaders to speed up support for the war-torn nation. 

Click Here to get all the details from Day 1.