UN: Security Council cautions against 'further violence' after Donbass flare-up

W/S Security Council, New York City
SOT, Rosemary DiCarlo, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs: "Today's disturbing reports of major ceasefire violations across the contact line near Zolote, including alleged use of heavy weapons, are deeply concerning and a stark reminder that in the absence of sustained political will, there is a very real risk of backsliding and further violence."
W/S Security Council *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Rosemary DiCarlo, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs: "At this pivotal time, I hope this Council will encourage all stakeholders to do their utmost to ensure sustained positive momentum in the negotiations and display the political will and flexibility to reach agreement on the key steps forward and focus on the implementation of agreed commitments, including first and foremost commitment to a durable ceasefire."
W/S Security Council *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Rosemary DiCarlo, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs: "Water, education and health infrastructure continued to be severely impacted by the conflict, reducing access to those facilities for civilians living there. In 2019, there were 50 incidents damaging education facilities - a 200 per-cent increase from 2018. Eighty-eight incidents targeted water infrastructure located near or on the contact line. Attacks on civilian infrastructure must stop."
W/S Security Council *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Vasily Alekseevich Nebenzya, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations (Russian): "Many of you, yourselves speak of the devastating plight of the residents of Donbass, and you yourselves refuse to acknowledge the responsibility of Kyiv, which waging war against its own population, has imposed the transport of food and economic blockade against Donbass. Each day for five years now, everyday people have died as a consequence of shelling, are they shelling on themselves? Is that what is happening? Is it they who unleashed the war and are waiting a crusade against Kyiv?"
W/S Security Council *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Vasily Alekseevich Nebenzya, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations (Russian): "We know of the primacies of some delegation will today promise and advance, so I wish to caution you in advance, each time you say that the Russian Federation is failing to comply with the Minsk Agreements, do remember that you are deliberately misleading your own population and the international community. And each time you refuse to acknowledge Kiev's responsibility, you call upon Kiev to comply with its obligations giving to its own people and each time you shift the responsibility to others, you extend the prolonged suffering of the residents of Donbass who - unlike you- know that this is the truth and they are protecting this at the cost of the residents' lives."
W/S Security Council *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Sergiy Kyslytsia, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine: "The attack perpetrated today, on the fifth anniversary of the Debaltseve tragedy, is particularly cynical. The Ukrainian armed forces provided an adequate response to this offensive, committed by the Russian occupation forces with the use of the Minsk-proscribed weapons, exercising Ukraine's inherent right for self-defence. It is clear that the Kremlin continues to pursue a strategy of escalation in Donbass in flagrant violation of Russia's obligations they have undertaken as a party to the Minsk agreements."
W/S Security Council *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Sergiy Kyslytsia, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine: "Sergiy Kyslytsia, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine: "As it has happened before, Russia tries to present the victim of its aggression as a perpetrator, which is one of the hallmarks of its information war against Ukraine. Such vain attempts to twist the truth could have been viewed as pathetic and even laughable -if it were not a cynical insult to the memory of thousands of my compatriots who have lost their lives defending their land."
M/S Security Council
W/S Security Council
SCRIPT
Russian and Ukrainian top envoys clashed in a Security Council meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York City on Tuesday, after Kiev said its troops on the eastern front line of conflict-torn Donbass had come under heavy shelling.
United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs cautioned against further military confrontations saying, "Today's disturbing reports of major ceasefire violations across the contact line near Zolote, including alleged use of heavy weapons, are deeply concerning and a stark reminder that in the absence of sustained political will, there is a very real risk of backsliding and further violence."
Mandatory credit: UN TV