Ukraine has said that it faces no humanitarian crisis, as Russia claims, and the UN aid chief appears to agree.
When asked whether Ukraine has a humanitarian aid crisis, Valerie Amos had replied yesterday, “Not as far as I’m aware.”
Russia had on Monday surprised diplomats by introducing a Security Council resolution that called for humanitarian aid corridors in troubled eastern Ukraine. Some diplomats were privately dismayed that Russia asked for this while opposing the creation of humanitarian corridors in Syria, its close ally.
The United States immediately denounced the resolution as “hypocritical’’.
The resolution expresses “grave concern” at “the dire situation of thousands of civilians trapped in besieged areas” in Russian-speaking southeastern Ukraine.
It also demands an immediate halt to deadly clashes in eastern Ukraine, where government troops have been fighting pro-Russian insurgents for weeks. Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin has said the violence will worsen the political situation for Ukraine’s president-elect Petro Poroshenko.
Ukraine’s UN ambassador, Yuriy Sergeyev, had insisted yesterday that Russia’s proposed resolution is not necessary.
“The resolution was drafted by a country that recently annexed a big part of our territory,” Sergeyev said. “There’s a double standard, as they are very restrained on a new draft resolution on Syria, where the humanitarian crisis so obvious.”
Sergeyev also told reporters that outside groups, including the Red Cross, have confirmed there is no humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.