Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Ukraine pleads for UN Peacekeepers .. The UN says Not Yet

Ukraine's president pleaded with the United Nations on Monday to send peacekeeping troops to eastern Ukraine to expel separatist militants from government buildings — a takeover he said is being directed by Russian special operations troops. 
Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov asked in a telephone call to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon that an "anti-terrorist operation" could be conducted jointly by Ukrainian security forces and U.N. peacekeepers to end the crisis. But Russia holds a veto on the Security Council, so it is unlikely the U.N. would approve such a force.
Meanwhile, separatists continued to hold government buildings in 10 cities in eastern Ukraine and refused to abide by a Monday morning deadline set by the Kiev government for them to vacate. Russia said it was watching events and reserved the right to intervene. Britain said Russia already has. 
The coordinated action of the armed pro-Russian groups inside Ukraine "is something that is being planned and brought about by Russia," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said ahead of a meeting with his EU counterparts.
Read the rest HERE.

Meanwhile UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said now is not the time:
It is not the right moment for any United Nations peacekeeping troops to be sent to Ukraine, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was quoted as saying on Tuesday. 
“At this moment, it doesn’t seem very practical to send troops,” Ban told Mexican newspaper Reforma, according to the Spanish text of an interview.
[...] 
Ban told the newspaper that any decision to send troops to Ukraine would need to be agreed by the UN Security Council, of which Russia is a permanent member. 
“Unless we have a clear mandate and authorization from the Security Council, I can’t take any action,” Ban said.
Read the full story HERE.

If you like what you see, please "Like" us on Facebook either here or here. Please follow us on Twitter here.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Everywhere you look it's disaster with this administration.

-Martha