Churkin: Russia hopes UN analyzes air strike on Lugansk administration – ITAR
UNITED NATIONS, June 13. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia hopes that the United Nations’ report on the situation with human rights in Ukraine will provide a detailed description of the incident when the Lugansk Region state administration was shelled, Russia’s ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin said Thursday.
Churkin said the Russian side “keeps insisting that the UN should give a clear signal” regarding the incident. “We hope the report [by UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan] Simonovic will contain a clear picture of what happened rather than just evasive statements that they are collecting information,” he said.
“There is enough information on that topic,” the diplomat said, adding that Moscow “is attentively watching” how the incident is being investigated.
According to conclusions of a special observer mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Lugansk administration building was hit by “non-guided rockets shot from an aircraft”.
According to self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), eight people died as a result of the attack. Last week, the UN said it took notice of the OSCE experts’ conclusion but was awaiting a report of its own observers on the incident.
The UN said Thursday that a regular, third report on the situation with human rights in Ukraine is due to be presented June 18. The report will cover the period from May 7 to June 7.
Churkin told an Itar-Tass correspondent Russia received assurances from the UN that the report will contain the results of a probe into deadly riots in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa on May 2.
“We were promised that it will cover Odessa. Let’s see how they keep their promise,” the diplomat said.
Ukraine has been in turmoil since the end of last year, when then-President Viktor Yanukovich decided to suspend the signing of an association agreement with the European Union to study the deal more thoroughly.
His decision triggered anti-government protests that often turned violent and eventually led to a coup in February 2014. Yanukovich had to leave Ukraine for security reasons.
Massive protests against the coup-imposed Ukrainian authorities erupted in Ukraine’s Russian-speaking southeastern territories after the secession of the Crimean Peninsula, which declared independence on March 11 and joined Russia on March 18 following a referendum.
Demonstrators in southeastern regions, demanding federalization, seized some government buildings. Kyiv has been conducting a punitive operation against pro-federalization activists.
The operation that involves armored vehicles, heavy artillery and attack aviation has already claimed hundreds of lives, including civilian, and left some buildings destroyed and damaged.
The eastern Ukrainian Donetsk and Lugansk regions held referendums on May 11, in which most voters supported independence from Ukraine. Their independence has not been officially recognized. Clashes have been underway between the Ukrainian military and militias in the regions.
Russia has repeatedly called on Kyiv to end the punitive operation and engage in dialogue with Ukraine’s Southeast.
New Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko, who won the May 25 early presidential election set by interim authorities and took office on June 7, has not given orders to stop the deadly operation.
Odessa saw a tragedy on May 2: at least 48 people died and 247 were injured in clashes and a fire in the city after radicals set ablaze the Trade Unions House, where pro-federalization activists hid, and a tent camp where activists were collecting signatures for a referendum on federalization and for the status of a state language for Russian.