The Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, insisted today that it is urgent to give peace another chance to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, after concluding a session of the Security Council on the subject.
The leaders must return to the path of dialogue and peace, he told the press accredited to the United Nations after concluding the emergency meeting, the third convened this week to address the situation in Donbass.
“Today in Ukraine, despite growing operational challenges, the UN is increasing the provision of life-saving support, including in the eastern part of the country, on both sides of the line of contact,” said the Portuguese diplomat.
Humanitarian needs multiply and spread hour by hour, civilians should not pay the highest price, said the highest representative of the United Nations.
To strengthen the multilateral organization’s response, Guterres announced the appointment of Sudanese diplomat Amin Awad as UN crisis coordinator for Ukraine.
All those involved in this conflict must respect international law and guarantee the safety and freedom of movement of UN personnel and other humanitarian workers, he stressed.
The Security Council met again in the afternoon, for the third time this week, to address the conflict in Ukraine and voted on a resolution on the matter, which was vetoed by Russia.
As explained by Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Vasili Nebenzia, the main reason for voting against that document is not what is included in it, it is what is left out.
For example, he added, the fact that those who seized power in Kiev through a coup launched bombs and missiles at the populations in the Donbass region and killed civilians.
Russia is against the crimes of the Ukrainian nationalists who have been murdering with impunity for eight years: where was the Security Council when all this was happening, why did they not react, Nebenzia questioned.
Hours before this meeting in the Security Council, the spokesman for the Russian presidency, Dmitri Peskov, denounced that the Ukrainian authorities are delaying the organization of negotiations with the Kremlin and are taking the opportunity to deploy multiple rocket launchers in residential neighborhoods of Kiev.
