Коментар Володимира Єльченка в РБ ООН у відповідь на заяву делегації Росії щодо миротворчої операції ООН на сході України

Statement by H. E. Mr. Volodymyr Yelchenko, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations, at the UN Security Council meeting in reply to the statement of the delegation of the Russian Federation

(10 June 2016)

1. Today the Russian Federation delegation once again resorted to a flat lie, this time stating that this Council did not receive any request from Ukraine on deployment of a peacekeeping operation.

Just for the record: Ukraine officially approached at the highest level this Council, as well as the Secretary-General, with such a request at least two times. Relevant appeals of Ukraine — of the President and National Security and Defense Council, as well as Parliament — were accompanied with the letters of Ukraine’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and officially transmitted to the UN by our mission in February and March 2015.

Let me make just one quote from the Address by the President of Ukraine to this Council and the SG adopted by the Ukrainian Parliament on 17 March 2015:

«On behalf of Ukraine I address the Secretary-General and the Security Council of the United Nations to initiate appropriate procedures for the deployment of a United Nations international peacekeeping operation in the territory of Ukraine, with the exact modalities to be defined in consultations with the Ukrainian side, in accordance with established practice. In particular, I request that a preliminary assessment mission be dispatched to Ukraine in order to assess the situation and put forward recommendations for consideration by the Security Council.»

One can wonder: if it is not a request addressed to this Council, what is it then?

Yet Russian delegation may try to deny even this. In this case let me recall that the mentioned address by the President and Parliament of Ukraine to this Council was distributed as its official document on 2 April 2015 under the symbol S/2015/225.

It is highly unusual for the Council member to deny existence of the document which can be found in the UN ODS. Therefore, I would like to ask the UN Secretariat to distribute hard copies of the Ukrainian request.

For ease of use of reference we will also upload this official SC document to our Mission’s web page.

2. Now on the substance of our today’s debate. As the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna was informed yesterday, Russia-backed separatist forces continue to use advanced weapons and equipment to put civilians at risk in the east of Ukraine.

According to SMM monitors, residents of Donetsk said that separatist fighters position themselves on the roofs of their homes, launch mortar attacks, and then run — leaving the civilians to face defensive, I stress — defensive, fire from Ukrainian soldiers.

Recently, Russia-backed separatist attacked Ukrainian positions from a water treatment plant, using the chlorine canisters stored there as a deterrent for Ukrainian forces to return fire, as their rupture would cause a local environmental disaster.

There is no justification for these acts that intentionally place civilians and civilian critical infrastructure at risk.