Briefing, June 17th, 2014
On June 16th closed UN Security Council consultations regarding the humanitarian situation in Ukraine were held. Considering the format of the assembly, the Ukrainian delegation did not participate in it.
Valerie Amos, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, conducted a briefing at the event.
According to available information, the main message of the briefing concerned the absence of a humanitarian crisis in Ukraine at the current stage. The majority of the delegations also doubted the existence of a humanitarian crisis in our country during their statements. Meanwhile, members of the UN SC emphasised that the crisis was caused by Russia’s actions aimed to support the separatists in the East of Ukraine.
During the consolations, Russia made a second attempt to present a project of the updated resolution regarding the situation in South-East Ukraine. Regardless of the fact that the text of the document included some preliminary recommendations from the UN SC member countries, including a confirmation of the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of Ukraine, it once more failed to find positive support from the rest of the members of the UN SC.
The consolations testified to the low probability of the RF to get sufficient support for this document.
The Ukrainian side views the project presented by the RF as unacceptable. First and foremost, we cannot agree with presenting the crisis as an internally Ukrainian one. We think that without clearly identifying the sides of the conflict and comprehending the role of each of them it is impossible to develop an effective mechanism to regulate the situation.
First and foremost, we mean Russia’s role, which instead of de-escalatiing the situation continues to increase its support for the activities of terrorist groups in Eastern Ukraine, continues to supply them with weapons and military equipment, including tanks and rocket launchers.
The RF’s proposal to give a high evaluation to the activities of the OSCE special monitoring mission and the condemnation of the kidnapping of the observers of the mission is cynical, as there is evidence regarding the Russian side’s connection with their kidnapping in East Ukraine. Citing the Head of the OSCE’s roadmap, not been accorded by the sides of the Geneva agreements except for the RF, is also unacceptable.
Translated by Mariya Shcherbinina, edited by Alya Shandra
Source: http://mfa.gov.ua/ua/press-center/briefing/1231-brifing-v-mzs
