Russian Envoy Warns Ukraine Against Using Civilians as Human Shields After UNSC Drops Resolution

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - A Russian UN diplomat warned Ukraine against using civilians as human shields after the UN Security Council failed to adopt a Russian-drafted humanitarian resolution, Russia's Ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, said.

"Our draft contains such key elements as a call for establishment of a ceasefire and the establishment of humanitarian pauses for the purposes of the conduct of safe and unhindered evacuation for the civilian population as well as the possibility for safe and unhindered evacuation from Ukraine for all of those who expressed a desire to do so without discrimination on any grounds," Nebenzia told a UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday.

The ambassador also said Russia is asking Ukraine not to attack any critical infrastructure objects or place any heavy military equipment in residential and densely-populated areas to ensure the protection of humanitarian and medical personnel, the wounded and the ill, and of civilians, as well as ensure the humane treatment of detainees.

In addition, Nebenzia said that Moscow calls on all parties not to politicize the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.

On Wednesday, the UN Security Council rejected a humanitarian resolution from Russia that called for a negotiated ceasefire in Ukraine. Only Russia and China voted in favor of the resolution, while 13 members of the UN Security Council, including the US, the UK and France - abstained from voting on Russia's draft resolution, and no countries voted against.

The resolution condemned all of the violations of international humanitarian law and human rights, including the Geneva Conventions. It also demanded respect and protection for the medical and humanitarian personnel on both sides of the ongoing conflict who are exclusively engaged in medical and related duties in Ukraine.

Chinese envoy Zhang Jun stated after the vote that the failure of the UNSC vote for a Russian-drafted resolution regarding the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is regrettable.

"It is regrettable that the council was unable to reach the broadest of possible agreements in the end," Zhang said.

The UN Security Council has recently held a series of discussions about the ongoing special military operation in Ukraine to demilitarize and de-Nazify the country after the breakaway Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics requested military assistance to defend themselves from the intensifying attacks from Ukrainian troops in the regions.

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