"Today, the Russian delegation tabled the draft resolution regarding the dire humanitarian situation in southeastern Ukraine, " said Vitaly Churkin, the permanent representative of Russia to the United Nations, while addressing reporters here at the end of closed council consultations.
Earlier Monday, Russia, which is the rotating council president for this month, called an emergency meeting of the 15-nation UN body to introduce the draft resolution, urging an immediate halt to deadly clashes in southeastern Ukraine.
"The draft is non-politicised and of the humanitarian nature," Churkin said. "It is aimed at alleviating human suffering, we hope that our colleagues in the council will support the text."
"Our draft demands an immediate cessation of hostilities and urges the parties to commit themselves to sustainable ceasefire and calls for the establishment by the parties of humanitarian corridors in order to allow the civilian population to leave safely and to ensure humanitarian assistance," he said.
Churkin also urged the parties concerned to commit to the April 17 Geneva statement and the roadmap produced by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
"We strongly believed that the Security Council must react to this escalation of the situation in southeastern Ukraine," he said. "A large scale of military operation continues in southeastern Ukraine with heavy and indiscriminate shelling in residential areas."
- Artillery was being used in the operations and "everyday civilians get killed, among them women and children," Churkin said.
- Churkin said that the Russian delegation circulated the draft resolution a few hours before the council meeting. During the closed-door consultations, the draft received "positive support from some of the council members," but some other members, as usual, expressed doubt over the draft, Churkin said, referring to the initial response among the council members to the proposed text.
- The council members are waiting for the instructions from their respective governments on the draft resolution, he said, adding that "we will decide what our next steps will be."
Earlier Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow that "the draft resolution will demand violence be stopped immediately and talks started to cease fire."
- The Western countries, Lavrov said, had promised to end the unrest as soon as presidential elections were held in Ukraine, " but it's quite the other way around." He also criticized the way some Western media reported on the months-long crisis.
Russia has repeatedly said a humanitarian catastrophe was haunting Ukraine, while Kiev accused Moscow of inciting unrest in its southeastern regions.
[globaltimes.cn]
3/6/14
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Usual UNSC suspects stalling Ukraine humanitarian action – Churkin....
ReplyDeleteThe humanitarian situation in Ukraine needs to be addressed immediately, without the usual “theoretical exercises" from the UN Security Council’s “usual suspects," ambassador Vitaly Churkin said after a closed-door meeting on a Russian draft resolution.
“The draft is not politicized and is of a purely humanitarian nature,” Churkin told reporters in New York, stressing that the document is aimed at “alleviating human suffering.”
“Every day civilians get killed, among them women and children,” Churkin said. “Ukrainian military and paramilitary forces impede the peaceful population, leaving besieged cities or sending their children to safe places. Buses of children are turned back.”
‘Indiscriminate shelling of residential areas’ must be stopped
A swift reaction is absolutely necessary, Churkin said, as Kiev continues its full scale military operation in southeastern Ukraine with “heavy and indiscriminate shelling of residential areas” using both artillery and aviation....................http://rt.com/news/163204-ukraine-un-resolution-russia/
3/6/14
Russia circulated its draft resolution to Security Council members on Monday evening, after a day of further violence in Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions....
ReplyDeleteThe 15-member council met to discuss the document, which calls for a halt to the fighting and for safe conditions to be established for humanitarian agencies to deliver aid and medical care.
Speaking after the meeting, Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, said Moscow had doubts the resolution would not be adopted swiftly enough.
"There was some positive reactions from some members of the council," said Churkin. "However, others were asking so many questions that if we were to try to answer them then we would be talking about things for weeks."
"We have not yet decided what our next move is going to be in terms of working on this resolution," he added.
'Hypocritical' resolution
Churkin had earlier told the Security Council that the humanitarian situation in south-eastern Ukraine was "dire," adding that thousands might need assistance if the fighting following the launch of Ukraine's military offensive did not come to an end.
However, British Ambassador to the UN, Mark Lyall Grant, told reporters after the consultations that there was little support for the resolution in its current form. "No one is under food shortages, there's no besieging of cities so it's not quite clear what the scale or crisis is that would justify humanitarian corridors," he said.
US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki called the draft resolution "hypocritical," repeating a US claim that Russia is continuing to back separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine.
There had been skepticism over the resolution even as Security Council members were on their way to the meeting. The UN ambassador of former Soviet republic Lithuania, Raimonda Murmokaite, claimed that - given its stance on Syria - Russia was behaving inconsistently......http://www.dw.de/lukewarm-response-as-russia-submits-draft-ukraine-resolution/a-17677969