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8516th Security Council Meeting: Situation in Ukraine
Kyiv’s Delegate Criticizes Decree Offering Russian Passports to Some Ukrainians as Moscow’s Representative Calls Process ‘Transparent’
Amid flaring tensions in eastern Ukraine, delegates in the Security Council today urged all parties to the conflict — now in its fifth year — to avoid unilateral actions that could exacerbate tensions, and to uphold their commitments, under the Minsk Protocol agreements to bring peace to the region’s 3.5 million beleaguered people in need of humanitarian assistance.
“A lasting and durable ceasefire remains an urgent priority,” said the Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, one of four officials who briefed Council members on the latest developments. She expressed regret that discussions on recommitting to a ceasefire during the Trilateral Contact Group’s 24 April meeting in Minsk were inconclusive.
She said the Russian presidential decree on the same date reportedly makes it possible for residents of certain parts of eastern Ukraine to obtain Russian citizenship under a simplified procedure — a move welcomed by entities controlling areas within Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions but protested by Kyiv as unprecedented interference in their country’s internal affairs. All parties should address their concerns through dialogue within the existing negotiation formats, she insisted.
The Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator said that 500,000 of those requiring aid and protection live within five kilometres of the contact line — placing them at risk of shelling, landmines and unexploded ordnance. Funding for humanitarian access remains unpredictable, particularly in areas beyond Government control, she added. Humanitarian agencies need $162 million to help 2.3 million people restore access to livelihoods and essential services, she noted, emphasizing that assistance must not be politicized.
Briefing by video-teleconference from Kyiv, the Chief Monitor of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine said that since the last recommitment on 8 March — among the shortest lived — there have been 50,000 ceasefire violations recorded and 238 instances involving weapons that should have been withdrawn. He reiterated his call for the parties to grant the Mission full access to the region, noting that through its reporting, it facilitates implementation of the Minsk agreements.
The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and of the Trilateral Contact Group also spoke from Kyiv, describing the growing rift between areas of Donetsk and Luhansk not controlled by the Government of Ukraine and the rest of the country. Rhetoric from those areas advocating for further integration with the Russian Federation, has fuelled tensions, he said, adding that with the sides drifting further apart, the coordinators of the security, economic and humanitarian working groups have focused largely on mitigating the division’s effects on people on both sides of the contact line.
In the ensuing dialogue, Ukraine’s delegate described the Russian Federation’s citizenship decree as “yet another appalling episode in a chain of events to tear away the Russia-occupied territories from Ukraine”. The Russian Federation has already organized a series of fake elections, introduced its own currency, expropriated Ukrainian enterprises and captured Ukrainian sailors in Ukraine’s own territorial waters, he pointed out, asking the OSCE officials to evaluate whether the 24 April passport decree helps or hinders implementation of the Minsk agreements.
France’s delegate said the Russian Federation is demonstrating a lack of political will to implement the Minsk accords and disdain for its commitments. He condemned the decision to grant Russian nationality in some areas. Germany’s representative pointed out that 24 April, the date Moscow chose for its most recent decree, is also the International Day of Multilateralism. By choosing that date, the Russian Federation demonstrated its disdain for the international multilateral order, he said.
Responding, the Russian Federation’s representative said the decree was issued transparently in a process started long ago. He asked which item of the Minsk agreements his country violated. “Four million citizens of Ukraine are basically outlawed, whose existence is being ignored by the international community,” he said, accusing Kyiv of sabotaging the Mink agreements. He said that his country is not interfering in Ukraine’s internal affairs, but rather offering the people the chance to resolve important issues for themselves.
Also speaking were representatives of the United States, Dominican Republic, South Africa, Belgium, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, Poland, Côte d’Ivoire, Peru, China, Indonesia and the United Kingdom.
The meeting began at 3:04 p.m. and ended at 5:15 p.m.
