UNITED NATIONS, February 27. /TASS/. The United States requested holding a UN Security Council session to address the situation in Ukraine on Sunday, February 27, a source in one of the delegations told TASS.
"The request [for Sunday, February 27] has been sent," the source said.
In accordance with the procedure, a UN Security Council chair is to appoint a meeting upon receiving the request.
Another source explained to TASS that the session will convene "for a procedural vote" to organize a special session of the UN General Assembly. In this format, a decision will require nine ‘yes’ votes to be passed, and a veto is not applicable.
On Friday, Russia used its veto power in the UN Security Council to block a resolution proposed by a group of Western countries that would have condemned Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. US Permanent Representative to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said after the session that a relevant document will be brought before the UN General Assembly.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories. Its objectives are demilitarization and denazification of the country.
The Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.