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Russia to present updated resolution on Ukraine in U.N. Security Council

UNITED NATIONS, June 16, /ITAR-TASS/. Russia will present an updated version of the resolution on Ukraine at a meeting of the Security Council and urge its reaction to the June 14 attack on the Russian Embassy in Kiev, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said on Monday, June 16, before the Council convened for a close-door session.

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos will speak about the situation in Ukraine first. “After that we are going to present an updated version of our resolution,” the diplomat said.

The version prepared last week was aimed at stopping the violence in the east of Ukraine. After discussions with other members of the U.N. Security Council, it was decided to “enrich the text of the resolution by introducing some of the elements from the previous version” which was presented in early June and which called for creating humanitarian corridors.

Churkin said that the previous draft covered a wide range of problems in Ukraine. Specifically, it condemns attacks on residential quarters and civilian facilities in the east of the country and voices concern over the use of prohibited ammunition, including incendiary bombs, during the army operation.

“We think that the international community should pay attention to the use by Ukraine of prohibited ammunition in combat. This happened before too, and we are very much concerned about this,” Churkin said.

The document urges all sides to refrain from actions that threaten the life and security of people and civilian infrastructure. It also calls for an immediate stop to all violence and for lasting ceasefire.

The draft also urges all sides to cooperate in order to implement the roadmap proposed by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for the resolution of the crisis in Ukraine.

The draft U.N. resolution on Ukraine is aimed at stopping the violence and supporting political efforts of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to resolve the crisis in that country, Churkin said.

At the same time, unlike the previous version, it does not call for creating humanitarian corridors in the south-east of Ukraine.

“The draft resolution will aim to stop the violence and support the political efforts the OSCE has been undertaking in vain so far. We urge the U.N. Secretary-General to support them,” Churkin said.

He stressed that the adoption of the resolution would demonstrate the U.N. Security Council’s support for the crisis settlement efforts in Ukraine. “This is very important for us because the situation in deteriorating,” the diplomat said.

He said the work on the document would continue. “We shall see how the discussion will go today. We are going to hold consultations tomorrow as well,” the diplomat added.

Churkin also said that he was going to draw the attention of the Council members to the June 14 attack on the Russian Embassy in Kiev.

“We will raise the question of the situation around our Embassy in Kiev because we are very much disappointed by the fact that we could not make a traditional statement yesterday which we usually adopt in case of incidents with diplomatic missions,” Churkin said, adding that when other diplomats, specifically British ones, had been in trouble “Russia always reacted very quickly” and supported the adoption of statements for the press which condemned the attacks.