UN / UKRAINE ARMS SUPPLIES

A top United Nations Disarmament official said, measures to address the risk of diversion of weapons and ammunition transfers “are essential for preventing further instability and insecurity in Ukraine, the region and beyond.” UNIFEED

• Video Length: 00:04:04
• Production Date: 12 April 2024
• Asset Language: English
• Personal Subject: VASSILY A. NEBENZIA; SERGIY KYSLYTSYA
• Corporate Name: SECURITY COUNCIL; UNODA; UNITED NATIONS OFFICE FOR DISARMAMENT AFFAIRS
• Subject Topical: PEACE AND SECURITY; ARMS TRADE; ARMED CONFLICTS
• Geographic Subject: UKRAINE; RUSSIAN FEDERATION; UNITED STATES
• MAMS Id: 3196475
• Parent Id: 3196475
• Alternate Title: unifeed240412a

Description

STORY: UN / UKRAINE ARMS SUPPLIES
TRT: 04:04
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / RUSSIAN / NATS

DATELINE: 12 APRIL 2024, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

FILE - NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, UN Headquarters

12 APRIL 2024, NEW YORK CITY

2. Various shots, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ivor Fung, Chief, Conventional Arms Branch, United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs:
“The influx of weapons and ammunition into any armed conflict can contribute to escalation and presents significant risks of diversion and proliferation even after the conflict has ended. Measures to address the risk of diversion to unauthorized end-users and for unauthorized uses are essential for preventing further instability and insecurity in Ukraine, the region and beyond.”
4. Wide shot, Fung addressing Council
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ivor Fung, Chief, Conventional Arms Branch, United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs:
“Beyond addressing arms transfers, all parties to any armed conflict have a duty to protect civilians in armed conflict, and to abide by their obligations under applicable international law, including international humanitarian law. Parties should also refrain from attacks against critical civilian infrastructure, including energy infrastructure.”
6. Med shot, Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya addressing Council
7. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“Ultimately losing on the battlefield, Ukraine is transforming into an openly terrorist state. And this is something which I wish to dwell on in detail. The Ukrainian Armed Forces deliveries of artillery, munitions and long-range Western made missiles is carrying out attacks on civilian objects within Russia. This is something which we talked about on a number of occasions. In the first quarter of this year alone the UAF have specifically launched 22,000 munitions, claiming the lives of 201 civilians.”
8. Med shot, Council members
9. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“Despite the incontrovertible evidence, a smoking gun of complicity of the Kyiv regime, they're still trying to convince us that the terrorist attack was ordered not by them but carried out exclusively by the supporters of radical Islamic ideology. Perhaps somebody very much wishes to force us to believe this, but a number of significant inconsistencies stand in the way.”
10. Wide shot, Ukraine Ambassador Sergíy Kyslytsya addressing Council
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Sergíy Kyslytsya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ukraine:
“Those who fail to distinguish between the defending side and the aggressor while making out of context calls to stop all arms supplies to the conflict area should realise the real implications of their starry-eyed position. In the worst-case scenario, it may mean millions of new refugees, hundreds of thousands repressed, and press ganged to the Russian army for new, aggressive wars.”
12. Med shot, Fung
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Sergíy Kyslytsya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ukraine:
“Iranian drones and DPRK missiles continue to kill Ukrainian civilians. We can only guess at what Russia is offering in turn. The recent veto on the renewal of mandate of the 1718 Committee Panel of Experts has been just the tip of the iceberg. And apparently not the most dangerous for global security. Therefore, I would like to use this platform, which is broadcast around the world. To reiterate the call to my President and my Minister. We need air defence systems and fighter aircraft to protect our cities from the Russian terror. Once again, we need air defence systems to protect our citizens.”
14. Wide shot, end of Council session

Storyline

A top United Nations Disarmament official today (12 Apr) said, measures to address the risk of diversion of weapons and ammunition transfers “are essential for preventing further instability and insecurity in Ukraine, the region and beyond.”

Ivor Fung, who is the Chief of the Conventional Arms Branch at the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, told the Security Council that “the influx of weapons and ammunition into any armed conflict can contribute to escalation and presents significant risks of diversion and proliferation even after the conflict has ended.”

Fung said, “beyond addressing arms transfers, all parties to any armed conflict have a duty to protect civilians in armed conflict, and to abide by their obligations under applicable international law, including international humanitarian law.”

He said, “parties should also refrain from attacks against critical civilian infrastructure, including energy infrastructure.”

Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya told the Council that Ukraine, “is transforming into an openly terrorist state,” and said, “the Ukrainian Armed Forces deliveries of artillery, munitions and long-range Western made missiles is carrying out attacks on civilian objects within Russia.”

In the first quarter of this year alone, Nebenzya said, the Ukrainian Armed Forces “have specifically launched 22,000 munitions, claiming the lives of 201 civilians.”

The RussianAmbassador said, “despite the incontrovertible evidence,” the Ukrainian government is continuing to claim that the recent terrorist attacks at a concert hall in Moscow “was ordered not by them but carried out exclusively by the supporters of radical Islamic ideology.”

He said, “perhaps somebody very much wishes to force us to believe this, but a number of significant inconsistencies stand in the way.”

For his part, Ukrainian Ambassador Sergíy Kyslytsya said, “those who fail to distinguish between the defending side and the aggressor while making out of context calls to stop all arms supplies to the conflict area should realise the real implications of their starry-eyed position. In the worst-case scenario, it may mean millions of new refugees, hundreds of thousands repressed, and press ganged to the Russian army for new, aggressive wars.”

Kyslytsya said, “Iranian drones and DPRK missiles continue to kill Ukrainian civilians. We can only guess at what Russia is offering in turn. The recent veto on the renewal of mandate of the 1718 Committee Panel of Experts has been just the tip of the iceberg. And apparently not the most dangerous for global security.”

He stressed that Ukraine needs “air defence systems and fighter aircraft to protect our cities from the Russian terror.”

Today’s meeting, under the “threats to international peace and security” agenda item was requested by the Russian Federation to discuss the supply of Western weapons to Ukraine.