YouSaid · the spoken record

Power

lines on the record: 1,841
first: 2013-08-06
most recent: 2019-07-09
sittings or episodes: 165
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“I wish to thank Minister Lavrov, Minister Rodriguez Gomez, Minister McCully, Minister Aman, Minister Linkevicius and Minister Wali for participating in this debate. Above all, I thank Minister Wang Yi for coming to the United Nations to preside over this important discussion. The drafters of the Charter of the United Nations viewedthe purposes and principles of the United Nations as "a test for the effectiveness of the Organization". It is a testament to their enduring relevance that, as we gather in the Council nearly 70 years later, the same purposes and principles continue to guide the Organization and provide that crucial measure of our collective effectiveness. As many here know, the very first words of the Preamble to the Charter are "We the peoples of the United Nations".”
2015-02-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7389 (2015) · source
“I just want to be clear in response to my Russian colleague that the United States wholeheartedly welcomes the agreement. We will do all we can to support it. But if Russia is committed to peace, it does not need a Security Council resolution to prove it. There are actually easier ways to prove it. Russia could stop arming the separatists; stop sending hundreds of heavy weapons across the border, in addition to Russian troops; stop pretending that it is not doing what it is doing; and start calling on and insisting that the separatists observe the ceasefire around Debaltseve. Resolution or no resolution, What matters is fulfilling the commitments that have been made now multiple times. I assure him that we will be the first to take notice, and it will actually be very easy to see whether or not the commitments are being met.”
2015-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7384 (2015) · source
“Today's Council meeting is an effort to throw the Council's weight behind an agreement already jeopardized by statements by the separatists dismissing the full ceasefire, by their continued attacks on Debaltseve and by their refusal, together with Russia's, to allow access to the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. We look to Russia, which manufactured and fuelled this conflict, to leave the upside-down world it has created and to honour the resolution it introduced today in support of efforts to end it.”
2015-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7384 (2015) · source
“In the real world a man named Aleksey Kravchenko, a 73-year-old in the Ukrainian-held town of Svitlodarsk, near Debaltseve, recently told a reporter that he had spent nights huddled together with his grandchildren in a bomb shelter on his property as shelling continued throughout the night. Aleksey told the reporter that his grandchildren said to him in the shelter "Grandpa, I don't want to die young." He said, "I held my grandchildren and they were shaking, and I looked in their eyes and they were afraid". "With the 12 February agreement, now we are hoping", he also said. The fighting, unfortunately, has in fact increased dramatically near Aleksey's home. But we call on Russia to translate hope into real action, to translate hope into real results - and to do so urgently.”
2015-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7384 (2015) · source
“The United States rejects any interpretation of resolution 2202 (2015) that would abrogate the parties' earlier commitments. All parties must implement all of the commitments made in the September Minsk agreements. The implementation steps agreed upon in the 12 February package include a comprehensive ceasefire, the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the September line of contact, the release of all hostages and the eventual restoration of Ukraine's territorial sovereignty and control of its international border. Too often debates in the Council occur in a vacuum, removed from the real world.”
2015-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7384 (2015) · source
“To be clear, the 12 February implementation package is a road map to fulfilling the commitments made by the same signatories in the September Minsk agreements. President Hollande, President Poroshenko, Chancellor Merkel and President Putin each made that clear when they endorsed the implementation package on 12 February and issued their joint declaration, in which they "remained committed to the implementation of the Minsk agreements". The Minsk agreements in the title - plural - refer to those signed on 5 and 19 September by the same signatories, while the measures for implementation in the title made clear that the 12 February package was designed to begin carrying out the September agreements and not to supplant them, as Russia has now begun to argue.”
2015-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7384 (2015) · source
“The United States has maintained the same position across 30 meetings of the Security Council with respect to Ukraine. Let me reiterate that position. We are for peace in Ukraine. We are for Ukraine's sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and unity. We are for ending the violence in eastern Ukraine that has taken more than 5,600 lives since last April and already displaced approximately 1 million people. We are for all of the signatories to the agreements signed in Minsk in September 2014, particularly Russia and the separatists they back, fulfilling the commitments that they have made, and we are for the package of measures for the implementation of the Minsk agreements of 5 and 19 September, and the package of measures endorsed last week by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France.”
2015-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7384 (2015) · source
“Even with such limited information, we know with certainty that at the same time that Russia signs on to yet another agreement committing itself to de-escalation and peace, forces that Russia trains, equips and joins on the battlefield have only escalated this fighting, grabbing more territory and killing the Ukrainian soldiers who stand in their way. We are caught in a deadly feedback loop. International leaders engage in rigorous, exhaustive negotiations to get Russia to commit to peace - in Geneva, in Normandy, in Minsk in September, in Berlin in February, again in Minsk on 12 February when the implementations were signed, and now in New York - yet Russia's commitments have no bearing on the actions of its soldiers and the separatists they back on the ground.”
2015-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7384 (2015) · source
“We do not know how many civilians are left in Debaltseve because Russia and the separatists it supports have refused to guarantee the safety of impartial monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, who have been trying for days to enter the area - a commitment that, in this upside-down world, Russia and the separatists made on 12 February at Minsk. But we know from credible press reports that thousands of civilians in Debaltseve and neighbouring villages have been sheltering from heavy shelling in dank basements, often without running water, food, electricity or basic medical supplies. We know that many of the civilians left, who are enduring the terror of this relentless assault, are the elderly and small children - people who could not evacuate on their own.”
2015-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7384 (2015) · source
“Even as Russia put forward resolution 2202 (2015), separatists that Russia has trained and armed and whom it fights alongside are laying ruthless and deadly siege to the Ukrainian-held city of Debaltseve, approximately 30 to 40 kilometres beyond lines established by the September Minsk agreements. Throughout the day, we have heard conflicting reports as to whether Debaltseve has fallen. According to press reports, the so-called road of life leading out ofDebaltseve has become a road of death, littered with the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers. At the same time that the Council is calling for the ceasefire that was supposed to take effect at midnight on Saturday, Russia is backing an all-out assault.”
2015-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7384 (2015) · source
“We have gotten used to living in an upside-down world with respect to Ukraine. Russia speaks of peace and then fuels conflict. Russia signs agreements and then does everything within its power to undermine them. Russia champions the sovereignty of nations and then acts as if its neighbours' borders do not exist. Yet even for those of us growing accustomed to living in an upside-down world, the idea that Russia - which manufactured and continues to escalate the violence in Ukraine - has submitted a resolution today calling for the conflict's peaceful solution is ironic, to say the least. It is bitterly ironic, given that the Council has dedicated some 30 meetings to calling on Russia to stop escalating the very same conflict, and given the human consequences that are growing daily.”
2015-02-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7384 (2015) · source
“We strongly condemn the use of force against peaceful protesters in Ibb on 14 February. The United States will continue supporting all Yemenis who are working toward a peaceful, prosperous and unified Yemen.”
2015-02-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7382 (2015) · source
“The people onemen deserve a clear path back to the political transition process and a legitimate Government based on these agreements and the resolutions of the Council with a publicly announced timeline and specific dates for the completion of a new constitution, a constitutional referendum and national elections. We continue to strongly support the efforts of the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General, Mr. Jamal Benomar, to mediate a consensus solution to this political crisis - a process vital to defusing tensions on the ground. We also underscore the Security Council's demand for the Houthi to release President Hadi Mansour, Prime Minister Bahah and other members of the Cabinet from house arrest immediately. Their continued detention is unacceptable, and they must be granted full freedom of movement.”
2015-02-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7382 (2015) · source
“The United States is pleased to support the adoption of a Security Council resolution that sends a clear message. All parties in Yemen, especially the Houthi, must commit to resolving the country's political crisis by consensus through a peaceful and inclusive dialogue. Today, the Council deplores unilateral attempts by the Houthi to take over Government institutions and to dissolve Parliament by force, and the Council reaffirms the road map for implementing Yemen's transition provided by the Gulf Cooperation Council Initiative and Implementation Mechanism and the outcomes of the comprehensive National Dialogue Conference.”
2015-02-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7382 (2015) · source
“Our complacency is deadly for the people of Darfur, so perhaps today, with a slightly more robust sanctions resolution, we can reignite the Council's engagement in this continuing crisis. People's lives depend on it, and so does the credibility ofthe Council, because our ability to promote international peace and security depends on our ability to keep our word and implement the measures we impose. We need to do that, because for every Thabit we know about, there are so many more villages that have been the victims of unspeakable atrocities over the past decade in Darfur. They demand that we find a way to stop this, and we must.”
2015-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7380 (2015) · source
“It presses the Government of the Sudan to take the long-overdue steps necessary to protect the people of Darfur and stop the violence. For the first time, in condemns the violence perpetrated by the Government-backed Rapid Support Forces - the heirs to the janjaweed - and urges the Sudanese Government to account for the situation of civilian populations that are suffering from devastating waves of attacks in North Darfur, like the reported mass rapes at Thabit. Yet encouraging as it is to see some very modest improvements to today's resolution on renewals, the most important measure of our efforts will be our ability to alleviate the immeasurable suffering of the people of Darfur, and on that front the Council and the international community have failed.”
2015-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7380 (2015) · source
“According to the Panel of Experts, between December 2013 and April 2014 alone, 3,324 villages were destroyed in Darfur. And the Sudanese Government continues to allow individuals subject to sanctions to travel and access their finances. Today we renewed a sanctions-monitoring Panel that has provided thorough, independent monitoring of the Government of the Sudan and other armed groups in Darfur, with a resolution that is more forward-leaving than its predecessors. But even as we take this important step, we are reminded that the sanctions regime is impotent when the Sudanese Government systematically violates it and the Council cannot agree to impose sanctions on those responsible for the violence and the abuses. Nonetheless, today's resolution 2200 (2015) matters. It speaks to our deep concern about the ongoing violations.”
2015-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7380 (2015) · source
“In one example Medecins sans frontieres cited, the Government of the Sudan prevented its emergency workers from travelling to the IDP camp in E1 Sireaf in Darfur, where the organization said residents did not have enough drinking water to survive. Medecins sans frontieres also suspended operations in South Kordofan state, where its hospital was bombed by a Sudanese Air Force jet. Today we renewed the mandate of an important UnitedNations Panel that monitors the sanctions imposed by the Council - sanctions that the Government of the Sudan continues to flout. The Government and armed groups it supports routinely violate the arms embargo, a fact that they openly acknowledge. They continue to launch deliberate attacks on civilians, as well as on UNAMID peacekepers.”
2015-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7380 (2015) · source
“In 2014 alone, more than 450,000 additional people were displaced in Darfur - the highest number of new internally displaced persons (IDPs) in any year since 2004 - adding to the approximately 2 million people already displaced. In the first six weeks of this year, humanitarian organizations estimate an additional 36,000 people have been driven from their homes in North Darfur state. people living in areas afflicted by violence are in desperate need of humanitarian aid; yet obstruction, harassment and direct attacks by the Sudanese Government have made them increasingly hard to reach. Two weeks ago, Medecins sans frontieres shut down its operations in three states in the Sudan, including two in Darfur, citing "the Government's systematic denial of access" to communities in the greatest need.”
2015-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7380 (2015) · source
“One woman told Human Rights Watch that soldiers entered her home and said, "You killed our man, we are going to show you true hell". Then, she said, "They started beating us. They raped my three daughters and me. Some of them were holding the girl down while another one was raping her. They did it one by one". Two ofher daughters were younger than 11 years old, she said. Many of the witnesses interviewed told Human Rights Watch that Government officials had threatened to kill them if they told anybody what happened. Nearly 10 years after the Security Council adopted resolution 1591 (2005), with the aim of protecting civilians in Darfur and stopping the violence there, the horror of Thabit is just one attack in one place out of too many to count.”
2015-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7380 (2015) · source
“Yesterday, a report released by Human Rights Watch alleged that at least 221 women and girls were raped in an organized attack on Thabit over a period of 36 harrowing hours, beginning on 30 October 2014. According to the report, Sudanese soldiers went door- to-door looting, beating and raping inhabitants. Over 50 current and former residents provided testimony corroborating the crimes, as did two reported army defectors who separately told Human Rights Watch that their superiors had ordered them to rape women. Because the Government of the Sudan denied the United Nations a proper investigation, we have to rely on organizations such as Human Rights Watch to gather witness and perpetrator testimony and to shine a light on what happened.”
2015-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7380 (2015) · source
“Last November, the Security Council was confronted with reports ofan alleged mass rape in Thabit, a town in North Darfur, the Sudan. The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur attempted to investigate, but was systematically denied meaningful access. The one time the peacekeepers were permitted to reach Thabit, Sudanese military and intelligence officials refused to let them interview alleged rape Victims in private, and in some cases recorded the interviews. To this day, the Government of the Sudan has shamefully denied the United Nations the ability to properly investigate the incident, despite the Council's mandate for the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) to do precisely that.”
2015-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7380 (2015) · source
“As the war in Syria grinds on, we renew our call on the Council to press for the political solution needed to end the tremendous suffering of the Syrian people.”
2015-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7379 (2015) · source
“There is no better recruiting tool for ISIL than the atrocities of the Al-Assad regime, which has dropped barrel bombs on civilians, used chemical weapons on its own people, and tortured tens of thousands more in its prisons. We regret that we were not able to show the same unity we have shown today in adopting the critically important resolution on ISIL when it came to the crimes of the Al-Assad regime. So just as we condemn the monstrosities perpetrated by ISIL, we must also continue to condemn the brutality of the Al-Assad regime, which has long since lost the legitimacy to lead, and reject the arguments of those who claim that we must partner with the regime to effectively confront violent extremists.”
2015-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7379 (2015) · source
“Kayla Mueller, a 26-year old American, had been drawn to the region to alleviate the suffering of Syrians, volunteering to work with refugee children in neighbouring Turkey. In an interview before she was abducted by ISIL and later killed, she said: "For as long as I live, I will not let this suffering be normal, something we just accept." The loss of people like Muath, Kenji, Haruna and Kayla deepens our resolve to eradicate the violent group that cut their lives short. At the same time as we applaud the Council's resolute action to address the threat posed by ISIL, we lament the Council's persistent failure to address one of the main factors that led to the group's rise.”
2015-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7379 (2015) · source
“The devastating consequences of such kidnappings and abductions have been felt by families, communities and whole nations in recent weeks and months. Lieutenant Muath al-Kaseasbeh, the Jordanian pilot executed by ISIL, was just 26 years old when he was murdered. A devout Muslim, in his last conversation with his wife he reminded her to pray and told her that he had performed a double prayer for martyrs. Kenji Goto, age 47, a Japanese journalist executed by ISIL, had gone to Syria to search for a kidnapped colleague and friend, Haruna Yukawa, who was also killed. Kenji spent his life writing about conflicts. An award-winning children's book he wrote in 2006 - I Want Peace Rather Than a Diamond - told the story ofa former child soldier in Sierra Leone.”
2015-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7379 (2015) · source
“Secondly, by imposing a new ban on the trade in smuggled Syrian antiquities, the resolution both cuts off a source of ISIL revenue and helps to protect an irreplaceable cultural heritage of the region and the world. To help stop that trade, the United States has sponsored the publication of so-called emergency red lists of Syrian and Iraqi antiquities at risk, which can help international law enforcement catch antiquities trafficked out of those countries. Thirdly, the resolution reinforces the existing prohibition in United Nations sanctions on all payments and donations to ISIL, the Al-Nusra Front and other Al-Qaida affiliates, including ransoms, which perpetuate a cycle of horrific brutality, giving those groups resources to carry out more murderous and incentivizing them to take more people captive.”
2015-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7379 (2015) · source
“As a result of these and other efforts, ISIL is having a harder time generating the new funds needed to carry out its operations. Today's resolution aims to make that effort even more challenging by using sanctions and other punitive tools to target three ISIL income streams. First, the resolution provides States with clear, practical instruction for how to cut off ISIL's illicit oil smuggling. United Nations sanctions already require States to stop that trade, but resolution 2199 (2015) also presses States to step up their efforts to prevent and disrupt the movement of vehicles going to and from areas controlled by ISIL and the Al-Nusra Front so as to stop the flow of assets traded by the groups, Whether oil, precious metals and minerals, or refining equipment.”
2015-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7379 (2015) · source
“The strategy also includes the coordinated efforts of many nations to conduct robust military operations to degrade ISIL's military capabilities, enact tougher laws and foster better cooperation to stop the flow of the foreign terrorist fighters who fill ISIL's ranks, and to counter the violent ideologies that attract people to ISIL and help fuel the group's attacks. In recent weeks and months, we have seen what this strategy can yield. Together with partners, we are degrading ISIL's leadership capabilities, knocking out oil fields, refineries and other associated infrastructure that ISIL controls, and supporting troops on the ground as they fight to recapture terroritory from the group, as was achieved in Kobani.”
2015-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7379 (2015) · source
“Today the Security Council has adopted a robust Chapter VII resolution to counter the threat posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Al-Nusra Front and other individuals and entities associated with Al-Qaida. The unanimous vote in favour of resolution 2199 (2015) shows ourjoint commitment to confronting violent extremist groups that threaten our collective security and the human rights that the United Nations was created to defend. The United States strongly supports today's resolution, which is part of a comprehensive strategy to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL.”
2015-02-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7379 (2015) · source
“Yet, in spite of the significant challenges that persist, on our trip we saw evidence everywhere of the incredible resilience and determination of the Haitian people, of rubble that has not only been cleared, but of new structures that have been put up in its place and new hopes that have been raised with them. The Haitian people will continue to have our support as they work to rebuild their country upon that hope.”
2015-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7372 (2015) · source
“From supporting the Haitian National Police to pushing for solutions to the problem of lengthy pretrial detention, the Mission is helping ensure a better future for the Haitian people. Let me again thank and commend Special Representative of the Secretary-General Sandra Honore, her team, including troops and police, and all of MINUSTAH'S troop- and police-contributing countries for all of their support for Haiti's stability and development. Our moving visit to Haiti's national memorial for all who lost their lives in the earthquake, which struck five years ago this month, reminded us of the extraordinary scale of the devastation Haiti has endured and the tremendous suffering it caused. For those who have not seen the memorial, it is marked by a large piece of rubble that stands as a stark symbol of all that was destroyed on that day.”
2015-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7372 (2015) · source
“We also met with leaders from Haitian civil society, in particular women's groups who reminded us of just how much work remains to ensure justice and equality for all Haitians, as well as reminding us of civil society's critical role in the continued stabilization and development of Haiti. They too can count on our continued support and attention, as we told them when we met. In Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien, we had multiple opportunities to meet with the leadership of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) and see first-hand the critical work the Mission is carrying out in support of its mandate - a Mission that has stuck with the Haitian people through thick and thin.”
2015-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7372 (2015) · source
“The Council conveyed our view that the perceived legitimacy of policies and institutions hinged on the perception that they are derived from broad segments of society and have broad buy-in. We had an unexpected opportunity to meet with Haiti's new provisional Electoral Council, installed the day of our arrival. Drawn from civil society, the provisional Council is charged with developing a framework for the elections crucial to Haiti's stability. We were impressed with the Electoral Council's seriousness of purpose and commitment to independence, and we offered its members our full support.”
2015-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7372 (2015) · source
“We were encouraged by President Martelly's commitment to limit his use of executive authority, to ensuring the continuity of the State and to organizing elections. Also encouraging was his stated determination to stress inclusiveness and consultation in managing State affairs, as reflected in his formation of a multiparty Government under a Prime Minister drawn from the opposition. The commitment of many opposition parties and leaders to work with the President to find a way out of the political stalemate and put the good of the Haitian people first, notwithstanding their differences, was also heartening. Checks and balances in Haiti are key, and even more important since the lapsing of the Parliament.”
2015-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7372 (2015) · source
“That development has left President Martelly running the Government under executive authority. While that circumstance is anticipated and permitted in Haiti's Constitution, and has unfortunately happened on multiple occasions in the past, the loss of the principal check on presidential power has provoked renewed anxiety inside and outside Haiti about the health of the country's democracy. Against that backdrop, we met with President Martelly and a number of his ministers, the 10 remaining seated senators and a range of opposition political leaders. Our message to all was consistent: all sides must redouble their efforts to engage in a constructive dialogue and come to an agreement on a framework for free, fair and inclusive elections as soon as possible, which is in the best interests ofthe Haitian people.”
2015-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7372 (2015) · source
“I would like to thank you, Mr. President, for scheduling today's briefing and for your leadership on what I think we all believe was a timely and valuable mission of the Security Council to Haiti. I would also like to thank all of our colleagues on the Council whojoined us in Haiti, since the participation of all 15 members underscored the Council's consistent and unanimous commitment to Haiti's stability, prosperity and democracy. The timing of the mission proved serendipitous for the Council's engagement on Haiti's troubling situation. Haiti's failure to hold overdue parliamentary elections, attributable in part to its failure to enact an electoral law, resulted in a lapsed Parliament on 12 January, when the terms of all the members of the Chamber of Deputies and half of the Senate's remaining 20 members ended.”
2015-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7372 (2015) · source
“If Russia is serious about peace, why does it not pull its tanks and Grad missiles out of eastern Ukraine instead of sending in more? If Russia is serious about peace, why does it not withdraw its forces at least to the lines agreed upon at Minsk, rather than send in a huge infusion of Russian heavy weapons so as to carve out new lines? Only if Russia takes these steps will there be a chance for the political solution that is so desperately needed.”
2015-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7368 (2015) · source
“Nearly 500,000 people live in Mariupol, the second biggest city in the Donetsk region, and more than 25,000 live in Debaltsevo. Mariupol is home to 92 preschools attended by 13,000 children. We continue to believe that the only solution to this situation is a political solution, not a military solution. To that end, we continue to support the efforts of the trilateral contact group, as well as the Normandy group of foreign ministers. We welcome the Normandy group's agreement in Berlin, which recognizes the need for the full, immediate implementation of the Minsk agreement. If Russia is serious about peace, why does it not condemn the statements by separatists that they will attack Ukrainians first and accept no more ceasefires, instead of trying to erase those statements from its State-run news services?”
2015-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7368 (2015) · source
“According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the period from 13 to 21 January was the deadliest on record since the 5 September agreement was signed in Minsk. During this time, an average of 29 people were killed each day. More than 5,000 people have been killed and almost 11,000 maimed since the conflict began in April 2014. And today, this very day, the attacks continue on the civilian-populated areas over the Minsk ceasefire lines, not only in Mariupol and Debaltsevo, but also in Pisky and Stanichno-Luhansk. To the Russians, Mariupol and Debaltsevo may just be strategic chess pieces in their effort to move the line of territory that they control, but these cities are also home to hundreds ofthousands okarainian civilians.”
2015-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7368 (2015) · source
“And in recent weeks, Russia has resupplied the separatists with hundreds of pieces of advanced weaponry, including additional rocket systems, heavy artillery, tanks and armoured vehicles. In mid to late January, notwithstanding the shootdown of flight MH-17, Russia even deployed into eastern Ukraine advanced surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft systems, marking the highest level of Russian air-defence presence in Eastern Ukraine since September 2014. There is a direct correlation between the movement of heavy weapons and the surge in that movement across the border, and attempts by separatists to take more ground. The horror wrought by this arsenal has been deadly.”
2015-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7368 (2015) · source
“So when Zakharchenko brags about seizing territory beyond the Minsk ceasefire line; when he announces at rallies that separatists will strike Ukrainian forces without provocation; and when he says that he is not interested in negotiating, he is not only speaking about the separatists' intentions but also about Russia's intentions. This offensive is made in Moscow. It is waged by Russian-trained and Russian- funded separatists who use Russian missiles and Russian tanks, who are backed up by Russian troops, and whose operations receive direct Russian assistance. Since December, Russia has transferred hundreds of pieces of military equipment to pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, including tanks, armored vehicles, rocket systems, heavy artillery and other military equipment.”
2015-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7368 (2015) · source
“As recently as yesterday, Foreign Minister Lavrov said "the worsening situation in Ukraine was the result of constant attacks conducted by the Ukrainian Government troops, which breached the Minsk agreements". We heard the same here today from the representative of the Russian Federation. Zakharchenko's statements are a problem for Russia because they are too straightforward. As members of the Council know - and as, increasingly, all the world can see - the separatists he claims to lead are trained and equipped by Russia and fight with Russian forces by their side.”
2015-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7368 (2015) · source
“The Russian news service Tass even tried to erase from official news stories all quotes from Zakharchenko speaking about the separatists' attacks. It is not hard to understand why Russia does not want the world to hear separatist statements. Last Wednesday, the representative of the Russian Federation told the Council that "the Russian Federation is ensuring full compliance with the Minsk accords" (S/PV7365, p. 7). On Saturday, however, Zakharchenko openly admitted that his forces were violating those same accords. He appeared not to have gotten the Russian memo, which clearly calls for violating the accords while pretending you are not. Despite Zakharchenko's statements, Russia continues to try to play the international community for the fool and blame the violence on the Ukrainians.”
2015-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7368 (2015) · source
“It would be strange to be concerned about statements one had encouraged and publicized, but when your State news agency circulates announcements relishing a new offensive and your diplomats refuse to express concern about them, you own not only the statements but also the offensives. Now sometimes, perhaps given the fog of this bloody war, the separatists are too explicit about their objectives. Indeed, after initially blasting around the separatists' Mariupol ambitions in the news service, Russia began to see the same ghastly images and reports of the carnage that the rest of us saw. At that point, perhaps knowing the source of the weaponry used, Russia tried to deny any tie between the separatists and the attacks.”
2015-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7368 (2015) · source
“Mariupol is a port city that would provide Russia with another means of supplying separatists. And controlling the city would be another step toward creating a land-bridge to illegally occupied Crimea. Debaltsevo is a strategic rail and road hub and serves as a key link between the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. It is no accident that these strategic cities are in Russia's sights. When on Saturday members of the Council tried to issue a joint statement denouncing the civilian casualties and expressing concern about the separatist statements, Russia blocked it, as we have heard - no wonder, given that less than a day earlier Russia had been perfectly content to disseminate Zakharchenko's statements in its State-run media.”
2015-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7368 (2015) · source
“Unfortunately, on Saturday the world witnessed the horrors that resulted from the separatist attack on Mariupol, a city 25 kilometres outside ofthe Minsk line. On Saturday alone, more than 100 people were injured in rocket attacks on the city. Approximately 30 people were killed, including women, elderly and children, one of whom was a four-year old boy. Some 40 rounds of rockets struck the city, hitting a market, homes and a school, among other civilian structures. The impartial Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine examined blast craters and concluded that they had been caused by Grad rockets fired from multi-rocket launcher systems in separatist-controlled areas. Why do these locations matter to the Russians and the separatists?”
2015-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7368 (2015) · source
“What context possibly justifies a massive offensive against a civilian-populated town? I would note also that attacking in three directions, as the separatist leader said his forces had the capability to do, takes a lot of weapons and forces. This capability reflects the difference made by the substantial months- long influx of Russian personnel and heavy weapons. We know that Zakharchenko said these things because he was filmed when he said them and quoted by the official Russian news agency, Tass. On Saturday, Zakharchenko told people at a rally in Donetsk "today the attack on Mariupol began". He added that "in a few days we will encircle Debaltsevo", a city that is 12 kilometres outside the ceasefire line established at Minsk. If only the separatists' words had been empty bravado.”
2015-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7368 (2015) · source
“The targets are fresh ones, but Russia's end goal remains the same - to seize more territory and move the line of Russian-controlled territory deeper and deeper into Ukraine. This time, however, statements by the separatists are complicating Russia's strategy. On Friday 23 January, the de facto leader of the Russian-backed separatists in Donetsk, Alexander Zakharchenko, said "today the offensive on Mariupol begins". He also said "there will be no more ceasefires". He said the separatists would not stop their attacks until they had "reached the borders of the former Donetsk region", bragging that separatist forces were now "able to attack in three directions simultaneously". The representative of the Russian Federation today said that these are statements we have taken out of context.”
2015-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7368 (2015) · source
“I thank you, Mr. President, for convening today's urgent meeting. We are grateful for Under-Secretary-General Feltman's thorough briefing on such short notice. Just five days ago (see S/PV.7365), we met in the Council and denounced the devastating consequences of attacks by Russian-backed separatists on civilians in eastern Ukraine, and we appealed to Russia to stop supporting, training and fighting alongside separatist forces. Members of the Council pressed Russia and the separatists not only to recommit themselves to the agreements they had made at Minsk, but actually to honour those commitments in their actions. Unfortunately, we are back in the Chamber today because Russia and the separatists have once again flouted those commitments.”
2015-01-26 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7368 (2015) · source