An extraordinary meeting of the Security Council began at the UN headquarters in New York on Monday night as the crisis in Ukraine deepened after Russia recognized the “independence” of the so-called “People’s Republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk and decided to send troops to the territories.
“We are facing a very dramatic situation,” French Ambassador Nicolas de Riviera told reporters before entering the Security Council. France was one of the countries that convened this extraordinary meeting on the initiative of Ukraine.
Addressing the meeting, Russian Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield ridiculed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s assertion that Russian troops sent to Moscow-backed separatist “republics” would act as peacekeepers.
“He calls them peacekeepers. It’s nonsense. We know they really are,” the U.S. ambassador said. “President Putin’s move is clearly the basis for Russia’s attempt to create a pretext for further invasion of Ukraine.”
Recognizing the “independence” of the so-called “people’s republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk, Putin has “torn apart the Minsk agreement”, which was signed in 2015 to resolve the armed conflict in Donbass, Thomas-Greenfield said.
She also said that Putin dreamed of restoring the Russian Empire.
“Putin essentially wants the world to travel back in time. For a time before the UN. For a time when the world was ruled by empires. But the rest of the world has moved forward. It’s not 1919. It’s 2022,” she said.
“We need to make it clear that an attack on Ukraine is an attack on the sovereignty of every UN member state and on the UN Charter – and that it will have quick and severe consequences,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
Putin’s Monday speech, in which he announced the recognition of the “republics” of Donbass, was full of “horrific, false statements” aimed at “creating an excuse for war,” the US diplomat said.
Ukrainian Ambassador Serhiy Kislicya insisted that his country’s borders remained “unchanged” despite Russia’s actions.
The British ambassador, Barbara Woodward, said the council must be united in urging Russia to “de-scale” the situation and “honor its commitments”.
“Russia has brought us to the brink of war. We urge Russia to retreat,” the British diplomat said.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Politics and Peacebuilding Rosemary DiCarlo deplored Russia’s order to deploy troops in eastern Ukraine.
“The next few hours and days will be critical,” said DiCarlo. “The risk of a major conflict is real and needs to be addressed at all costs.”
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