{"id":25949,"date":"2022-04-19T16:16:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-19T20:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=25949"},"modified":"2022-04-20T12:18:33","modified_gmt":"2022-04-20T16:18:33","slug":"coveney-calls-on-security-council-to-secure-peace-in-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=25949","title":{"rendered":"Coveney Calls On Security Council To Secure Peace In Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
The Minister for Foreign Affairs addressed the UN Security Council on Tuesday (PA Archive\/PA Images)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has urged the UN Security Council to do all it can to secure an urgent peace in Ukraine, amid an all-out Russia offensive in the Donbas region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Coveney also accused Russian forces of showing an \u201cutter disregard\u201d for international humanitarian law and the protection of civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It comes as the Russian assault intensifies on cities and towns in eastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Coveney told the Security Council that he was aware that leaders were meeting \u201cin the shadow of a renewed offensive by Russian forces on eastern Ukraine\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hear the narrative, from far too many quarters, that peace is only possible after the battle for Donbas. I can\u2019t accept that logic \u2013 a logic that leads directly to further death, further suffering, further displacement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis Council must challenge that thinking, today and every day. We must demand more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Coveney also spoke in New York about the horrors he witnessed during a recent visit to the town of Bucha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He described the scenes he witnessed as \u201cprofoundly shocking\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHundreds of family homes, shops and other civilian infrastructure: blackened, burnt, looted, damaged, and in some cases completely destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFamily cars, riddled with bullets, windshields smashed, bloodstains still evident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been around long enough to know the difference between truth and staged propaganda when I see it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was nothing fabricated about what I witnessed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI stood at the edge of one of the mass graves

Koupit Clomid<\/a><\/div> , where the work of carefully exhuming bodies continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFive hundred and three civilians had been identified at that stage \u2013 and just four soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that what he witnessed during the visit \u201cspeaks to an utter disregard by Russian forces for international humanitarian law and the protection of civilians\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no spinning that reality away with disinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Coveney said that Ireland will not remain silent on the \u201csenseless and devastating\u201d war in Ukraine nor on the impact it is having on some of the poorest countries around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that the UN Security Council cannot afford to remain silent either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He referenced depleted wheat reserves in Palestine, as well as the economic impact of the war on the Middle East and the Horn of Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Coveney had confirmed earlier that just under 25,000 Ukrainians had arrived in Ireland as refugees, with 85% of that number women and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIreland is a small country,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re not a member of any military alliance. We\u2019re no superpower. But we fought to take a seat at this table and we earned the right to be here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe did so because we fundamentally believe that, despite all the well documented flaws of this Council and there are many, it is the ultimate arbiter on matters of war and peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Coveney took the opportunity to call on Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, to end the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs it was on February 25, so it is today \u2013 this is a war of choice. It can end immediately if president Putin so decides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd yet, instead we are seeing a renewed and upscaled offensive in eastern Ukraine. This is madness that history will judge very harshly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have to find a way to stop this war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to call today on Russia directly. Agree to an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, commit to negotiations, respect this Charter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe know that some progress was made in Istanbul between the key parties. There is clearly a basis for a peace agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Share this:<\/h3>