
On Monday, the United States and its allies denounced Russia at an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting over the Ukraine crisis, calling Moscow’s recognition of two separatist regions and deployment of Russian troops to them a flagrant violation of international law that risks war.
The unusual late-evening Council meeting, requested by Ukraine, quickly devolved into a diplomatic rebuke of Russia and the actions announced by President Vladimir Putin earlier Monday.
We call on Russia to return to the negotiating table. We condemn the order to deploy additional Russian occupation troops in Ukrainian territory. We demand the immediate and complete withdrawal of occupation troops: Ukraine attends a UN Security Council meeting.
“Today, the entire United Nations membership is under attack. Under attack by the country that occupied the Security Council seat in 1991, circumventing the UN charter. In 2014, the following country occupied parts of Ukraine,” tweets Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Nations.
Further, he added, “We want peace and are consistent in our actions. We are committed to a political and diplomatic solution, and we will not be swayed by provocations: Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Nations, speaks at a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine.”
Russia, which holds the Security Council’s 15-member presidency for the month of February, was forced to schedule the meeting. However, as a permanent member with a veto, it has the ability to veto any action proposed by other Council members during the meeting. Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, had requested the meeting hours before. Ukraine is not a member of the United Nations Security Council. The request came as Putin recognised two separatist enclaves in eastern Ukraine, Luhansk and Donetsk, laying the groundwork for Russian military forces to enter Ukrainian territory.