Credit:  By Gary Raynaldo  /  ©Diplomatic Times  /  Vadym Prystaiko, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, briefs reporters outside the United Nations General Assembly chambers after addressing the UN GA on the situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine at world headquarters in New York, NY Feb. 20, 2020.

By  Gary Raynaldo         DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

UNITED NATIONS   –   NEW  YORK  – Ukraine’s foreign minister Thursday called on the UN General Assembly to address the issue of Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories due to Russia’s  continued undermining of  the Security Council’s capacities. Vadym Prystaiko, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, addressed the UN General Assembly’s meeting on the situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.  Prystaiko said that Tuesday’s Security Council meeting on the situation in eastern Ukraine took place just hours after the Ukrainian positions were “brutally attacked”  by Russian Federation occupation forces, leaving one soldier dead and six wounded.  The Ukrainian foreign minister expressed regret that the “aggressor State” (Russia) continues to undermine the Council’s capacities, adding that that this makes a more compelling case for the General Assembly to address the issue of Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories.

“A strong voice of the United Nations General Assembly remains a crucial element of international pressure to make Russia abide by international law and stop its aggression against Ukraine.”

-Vadym Prystaiko, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

Prystaiko noted that since 2014, the UN General Assembly has adopted seven resolutions condemning the Russian Federation’s aggression. About 44,000 square kilometres of Ukraine are now under foreign occupation, while more than 14,000 people have been killed and over 27,000 wounded, according to the Ukrainian foreign minister.  He said about 2 million residents of Crimea and Donbas have been forced to flee their homes and become internally displaced persons or refugees.  The Ukraine foreign minster added that dire humanitarian situation in the conflict-affected areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions continues to deteriorate, with more than 3.4 million people expected to require humanitarian assistance in 2020.

“The occupied areas have become a territory of fear and terror,” the Ukrainian foreign said, noting that the occupying authorities are resorting to systematic and large-scale violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

DIPLOMATIC TIMES Video /  Vadym Prystaiko, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, briefs reporters outside the United Nations General Assembly chambers after addressing the UN GA on the situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine at world headquarters in New York, NY Feb. 20, 2020.

Silvio Gonzato,  UN representative of the European Union,  condemned all of the Russian Federation’s breaches of international law and welcomed Ukraine’s efforts to seek justice using international legal instruments and courts, including the European Court of Human Rights, arbitration courts and the International Court of Justice.

RUSSIA Ambassador To UN Condemns General Assembly’s Involvement In Crimea Discussion 

Credit: Gary Raynaldo   /   ©Diplomatic Times  /  Vassily A. Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations,  outside the United Nations General Assembly chambers after addressing the UN GA on the situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine at world headquarters in New York, NY Feb. 20, 2020.

Vassily A. Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, said that the imposition on the General Assembly of this discussion has nothing to do with reality or even virtual reality.

“In Ukraine, there are no temporarily occupied territories.  Crimea is a constituent territory of the Russian Federation, which came into being in 2014 following a referendum.  Regarding Donbas, there is a civilian conflict between Kyiv and the citizens of Ukraine because of the refusal to acknowledge the 2014 coup.  The Ukrainian authorities say there is no civilian conflict, there is only Russian aggression against Ukraine.  This enables them to show themselves not as aggressors but as victims.”

-Vassily A. Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations.

Credit: Gary Raynaldo   /   ©Diplomatic Times  /  Vassily A. Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations,  outside the United Nations General Assembly chambers with Dmitry Polyanskiy – First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations speaking to reporters  Feb. 20, 2020. 

DIPLOMATIC TIMES Video /  Vassily A. Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations,  outside the United Nations General Assembly chambers Feb. 20, 2020. 

The Russian Ambassador told the General Assembly that six years ago the world bore witness to a tragedy in the centre of Kyiv, the culmination of which was a brutal coup, adding that a large-scale systemic crisis is now besetting the country.  “There have been attempts to conceal the truth, but the inconvenient truth for Kyiv is now coming to life,” he said. “Ukrainian voters gave an assessment of what transpired by showing mistrust for the previous leadership.  The new leadership is pursuing the doomed policy of its predecessors.  The linchpin for settling any conflict is a dialogue.  However, the possibility of implementing the outcomes of the December meeting in Paris is difficult unless there is an acknowledgement of the real causes of the conflict.  Instead of restoring the trust of its citizens, Ukraine is doing the opposite, blatantly discriminating against people and prohibiting the use of their mother tongue.  Kyiv’s fear of complying with its Minsk obligations and holding an election is because people are likely to vote for candidates who protected them from the Ukrainian army and its shells.” -Russian Ambassador to UN.

The Crimean Peninsula was annexed by the Russian Federation between February and March 2014, and since then has been administered as two Russian federal subjects—the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol. The annexation from Ukraine followed a Russian military intervention in Crimea that took place in the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution and was part of wider unrest across southern and eastern Ukraine.