The UN Security Council will hold an open meeting on Monday night on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, which is getting worse every day as a result of the Russian invasion becoming more and more intense.
It was the United States and Albania that requested the meeting, according to diplomats. It writes AP News.
The meeting is followed by a closed consultation proposed by France and Mexico, which want a resolution demanding that the fighting in Ukraine be stopped immediately. They want the population to be protected and emergency aid to reach the civilian population unhindered.
The UN estimates that twelve million people staying in Ukraine, and four million fleeing to neighboring countries in the coming months, will need humanitarian aid.
But if a resolution is to be adopted, Russia must agree.
– Depends on the wording
Janne Haaland Matlary is Professor of InternationalPolitics at the University of Oslo and Professor II at the Staff School. She tells Dagbladet that there is a possibility that Russia wants to be part of the resolution.
– If France tries to achieve something, it is to get Russia to agree to it. Macron has had continuous contact with Russia, and Putin probably talks to him rather than to the British and the Americans, says Haaland Matlary.
In any case, Russia has a veto right in the Security Council, which will make it difficult to get a resolution through.
SHOOTS: Russian soldiers shoot over the heads of a Ukrainian crowd marching against them. March 2, 2022. Reporter: Vegard Krüger. view more
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The Security Council has five permanent members who have been members of the Security Council since 1945, and who do not need to be re-elected.
The five permanent members are the United States, China, Russia, the United Kingdom and France, and they all have a veto. This means that if one of these countries votes against a proposal, the proposal cannot be adopted.
– Everything that happens in the Security Council can be vetoed by Russia or the other countries. But Russia would probably like to appear constructive, solution-oriented and willing to negotiate. Whether Russia wants to be part of this resolution depends entirely on the wording, the professor says.
Russia has made an offer to open civilian evacuation routes in the besieged cities of Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mariupol and Sumy, but Ukraine rejected this offer because several of the corridors led to Russia and Belarus.
Ukraine has called the proposal to establish refugee corridors leading to Belarus and Russia “completely immoral”, reports NTB.
The UN also criticizes the proposal.
– I think it is important that people can go where they want, where it is safe, says UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Monday.
Russia claims the proposal stems from a request from French President Emmanuel Macron, which Macron denies.
Kremlin rhetoric
Julie Wilhelmsen is a senior researcher at the Norwegian Institute of Foreign Policy (NUPI) and tells Dagbladet that Russia with its veto power in the Security Council can prevent any binding decision, such as intervening to limit the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.
– The Kremlin’s rhetoric has long contained a claim that the United States and the West have inflated humanitarian crises, for example in Libya in 2011, to justify military intervention and remove illegitimate regimes, says the senior researcher.
«TOS-1»: This video was shared on Twitter on February 26 by CNN correspondent Frederik Pleitgen, and is to show that the Russians have used heavy military transport to transport the Russian artillery weapon “TOS-1” to the border with Ukraine. Video: Twitter / @fpleitgenCNN / @ChudUndying. Text: Stian Drake. Reporter: Marthe Tveter Gjønnes. view more
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Wilhelmsen explains that the Kremlin has spoken of this as a “modern practice” in worldpolitics, which they allegedly are not for, but which Russia now practices to allegedly safeguard Russian interests and “protect” the people of eastern Ukraine.
“Although this is an absurd claim, I think the Putin leadership will continue to assert it in the Security Council and prevent any decision that could create legitimacy for a possible intervention in Ukraine by the international community,” she said.
For the United States to support such a resolution, it must contain clear wording that it is Russia that has caused the humanitarian war, according to diplomatic sources.
The bombing continues
The bombing of a number of Ukrainian cities continues, including in Hostomel outside Kyiv, Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv and Mykolaiv. In Hostomel, mayor Yuri Illich Prylpko is said to have been killed.
Russia has carried out new attacks on Mykolaiv, and Ukraine reports that they have repulsed them.
The UN can now confirm at least 406 civilian deaths in the war, but assumes that the real number is significantly higher. Ukraine claims more than 11,000 Russian soldiers have been killed.
So far, the UN estimates that 1.7 million refugees have left Ukraine, making it the fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II.
Also going to talk about North Korea
The UN Security Council will also hold a crisis meeting on North Korea on Monday, after the country’s latest suspected missile test, diplomats told the news agency AFP.
According to AFP, the meeting will be held informally and behind closed doors. The United States has requested the meeting.
It comes after North Korean state media reported that Pyongyang conducted a test of what they called an intelligence satellite on Saturday. Analysts believe it was a poorly concealed test of a ballistic missile.
