Equipo Nizkor - UNSC S/2016/204 - Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on the implementation of the Minsk agreements.

United Nations
Security Council

S/2016/204

Distr.: General
1 March 2016
Original: English

Letter dated 1 March 2016 from the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council

I have the honour to enclose herewith the Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on the implementation of the Minsk agreements (see annex).

I should be grateful if you would circulate the present letter and its annex as a document of the Security Council.

(Signed) Volodymyr Yelchenko
Ambassador
Permanent Representative

Annex to the letter dated 1 March 2016 from the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council

Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on the implementation of the Minsk agreements

29 February 2016

On 20 February 2014, Russia launched an armed aggression against Ukraine by occupying the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. This aggression now continues in the Donbas.

Since the beginning of the aggression, over 2,600 Ukrainian servicemen have been killed and more than 9,000 wounded. Only in the two months of 2016, Ukrainian positions have been shelled over 2,500 times, leaving 12 Ukrainian servicemen killed and more than 150 wounded.

During these years of aggression, a 40,000-strong army has been built up in the Donbas financed, equipped and maintained by Russia and commanded by Russian officers. This army has been supplied with sophisticated modern Russian weaponry: heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems such as BM-21 Grad, Tornado and TOS-1 Buratino, surveillance and secure communication devices (electronic warfare complexes Rtut-BM, Shipovnik-Aero, Leer-2, 1RL257 Krasukha-4) and air defence systems Buk (SA-11 Gadfly), Strela (SA-13 Gopher) and Pantzyr (SA-22 Greyhound). Now it has nearly 470 tanks, 870 armoured combat vehicles, 450 artillery systems and 190 multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS). Russia has been also using such prohibited weapons as cluster warheads (9M55K, 9N235) and anti-personnel mines (PMN-2, MON-50).

Ukraine has been consistently implementing its commitments under the Minsk agreements on security, political, humanitarian and social-economic tracks. It ceased the fire; guaranteed full access of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) monitors; presented a concept on modalities of local elections in the certain areas of the Donbas based on the Minsk agreements, international standards and Ukrainian legislation; and made an important step towards political settlement, adopting the draft law on amending the Constitution in the first reading.

The Ukrainian Government continues delivering natural gas and electricity to militant-controlled areas and allocates pensions and other social benefits to Ukrainian citizens in the occupied territories of Donbas. Under constant shelling, Ukrainian teams are repairing infrastructure, gas, water and power lines to secure the needs of the civilian population.

Russia has fulfilled none of its obligations under the Minsk agreements.

Russia and its proxies continue military provocations, including by using the weapons that should have been withdrawn under the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) monitoring and verification — multiple launch rocket systems, self-propelled artillery and 82-mm and 120-mm mortars. Russian troops in Donbas continue with unfettered rotation, training and supply through the uncontrolled sections of the state border.

Thus far, the OSCE SMM has not been provided with full, secure and unhindered access to all territories controlled by Russia and its proxies. No progress has been achieved on OSCE access to the border and on establishing the security zone, as envisaged by the Minsk agreements, to stop and prevent the massive inflow of weapons and troops to Ukraine.

Russia and its proxies continuously obstruct releasing more than 130 Ukrainian hostages, while subjecting them to inhuman treatment and tortures and threatening the hostages with capital punishment based on the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) criminal code.

Russia continues political persecutions of Ukrainian citizens and refuses to release the Ukrainian political prisoners Savchenko, Sentsov, Kolchenko and others, illegally detained in Russia.

Russia and the militants are blocking the delivery of Ukrainian and international humanitarian aid to the civil population and systemically impede activities of the international humanitarian organizations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Ukraine urges all United Nations Member States to demand from the Russian Federation to fulfil all its commitments under the Charter of the United Nations and international law, to implement the Minsk agreements in full and in good faith and to stop immediately all acts of aggression against Ukraine.

We call on the international community to exert maximum pressure on Russia and maintain sanctions until Donbas and Crimea are de-occupied and the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine is restored.

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01Mar16

Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on the implementation of the Minsk agreements