India for peace, dialogue, diplomacy’ in Ukraine crisis says UN envoy

Anjali Sharma

GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 12^th April. Ambassador Tirumurti on Monday was addressing a meeting of the UNSC on maintaining international peace and security on Ukraine has stated that India always stood for peace, dialogue and diplomacy, ever since the inception of the Ukraine crisis.

He also said that India has always believed in peaceful talks rather than the shedding of blood, in his remarks delivered at the Council meeting chaired by the UK presidency Ambassador Barbara Wood for this month.

India envoy Mr. Tirumurti added that India is exploring all the options to minimize the impact on Indian students’ education.

He appreciated the relaxations made by the Ukrainian Government for this academic year in respect of medical students studying in Ukraine when the conflict took place.

Tirumurti spoke about the refugee issue, he stated that more than 4.4 million people had to leave their country and take refuge in neighboring countries of Poland and Hungary among others.

He stressed that over 7.1 million people have been displaced within Ukraine itself.

Ambassador reiterated that India had condemned the civilian killings in Ukraine’s Bucha town and supported the call for an independent investigation.

He said India continues to remain deeply concerned about the worsening situation and reiterates its call for an immediate cessation of violence and end to hostilities.

According to the UN agencies and various news media has reported that over 300 people have been killed and the total number of casualties was likely to increase as the whole city is checked. Hundreds of civilian residents were found dead on the streets, by their homes and in mass graves.

Ukraine President Zelensky accused Russia of the Bucha massacre. Russia has denied the allegations and said that it was Ukraine propaganda.

U.S. ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Monday that what is happening to women and children during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is “horrific beyond comprehension.”

Thomas-Greenfield said at the UNSC meeting on Ukraine and the impact of the attack on women and girls that “When men like President Putin start wars, women and children get displaced, women and children get hurt, women and children get raped and abused, and women and children die.”

“Since the start of Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine, Russia has bombed orphanages and maternity hospitals. We’ve seen mass graves with dead children stacked on top of each other.”

Thomas-Greenfield said she had met with some of the millions of people displaced by the invasion, a “mass displacement” that “includes over half of all of Ukraine’s children” and that 90 percent of refugees from Ukraine are women and children.

She called on humanitarian actors to address gender-based violence and advocate for children’s rights.

“What is happening to women and children in Ukraine is horrific beyond comprehension,” she added.

Sima Bahous, the executive director of UN Women, said that through the “horrors” of the invasion women have continued to serve their communities and that women make up “80 percent of all health and social care workers in Ukraine and many of them chose not to evacuate.”

“Without fail, every Ukrainian man, woman and child I met had one dream to be able to return home,” Bahous said, but that “many do not have homes to go back to.”

UNDP has launched a plan for Ukraine on Monday to provide immediate economic help and longer-term assistance to the millions left struggling to meet basic needs, after the Russian invasion.

UNDP aims to counter the devastation that’s been caused by the shelling of cities and early projections that two decades of economic progress could be lost, if the war continues.

The announcement came as The World Bank issued an alert that Ukraine’s economy is set to shrink by 45 per cent this year, because of the war.

The World Bank noted that Russia is hit by unprecedented sanctions, Russia’s economy has already plunged into a deep recession with output projected to contract by 11.2 percent in 2022.

“The war in Ukraine continues to inflict immense human suffering with nine out of 10 people at risk of falling into poverty,” said Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator.

“As part of a coordinated UN response, UNDP has an unwavering commitment to stay and deliver for the people of Ukraine.”

He said that there is no denying the immense human suffering that the Russian aggression has caused, insisted that it was vital to ensure that local economies continued to function and that people livelihoods were protected.

UNDP’s longstanding presence across Ukraine, it has the infrastructure to support the Government’s emergency response and the delivery of vital public services.

The agency is helping the most vulnerable people in Ukraine at a community level, all women who are at increased risk of violence, including conflict-related sexual violence.

To help empower women and girls, UNDP insists that they must have fair access to basic needs and livelihood support – including business support and access to finance, networks and markets.

The agency’s initiative seeks to meet immediate humanitarian needs by leveraging Ukraine’s “human capital, economic capacities and natural resources”, and strengthen civil society to help uphold human rights for people’s “inclusion, protection and empowerment” in the recovery, UNDP said in a statement.

The impact of the Russian invasion has translated to serious concerns among humanitarians about global food insecurity, as production in Ukraine of many cereals and other staples has been hit.

Sanctions on Moscow have also hit economies around the globe, according to The World Bank, said that emerging markets and developing countries in Europe and Central Asia were expected to “bear the brunt”.

In its latest economic update, The World Bank forecast that the region’s economy was set to shrink by 4.1 per cent this year, compared with a pre-war forecast of three per cent growth.

“This would be the second contraction in as many years, and twice as large as the pandemic-induced contraction in 2020,” it said.

President Zelensky urged South Korea to provide more defensive weapons systems.

He added that “tens of thousands” of people in Mariupol have been killed since the invasion began.

Head of the Ukrainian delegation said he will see a “formulaic solution” to end this war and prevent similar wars in the future, during peace talks with Russia.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow Monday.

Russian Defense Ministry said it destroyed shipments of S-300 air defense missile launchers sent to Ukraine. Slovakia has denied the system it transported to Ukraine has been destroyed.

Meanwhile President Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are meeting their Indian counterparts in Washington.

European Commission has banned 21 Russian airlines from operating in the 27-nation bloc as they do not meet international safety standards, it said in a statement issued earlier.

The Commission added the group of airlines to the E.U. Air Safety List Monday, citing an “immediate safety threat.”

“The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency has allowed Russian airlines to operate hundreds of foreign-owned aircraft without a valid Certificate of Airworthiness,” European Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean said.

“The Russian airlines concerned have knowingly done so in breach of relevant international safety standards.”

E.U.’s black list includes a total of 117 airlines.

Vălean emphasized the move is not another sanction against Russia.

“I want to make it crystal-clear that this decision is not another sanction against Russia; it has been taken solely on the basis of technical and safety grounds,” she said.

“We do not mix safety with politics,” she added.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said Monday that a convoy of Russian forces appear to be moving toward the city of Izuym in eastern Ukraine.

“We believe that these are the early stages of a reinforcement effort by the Russians in the Donbas,” Kirby said.

“It’s unclear how many vehicles are in this latest convoy, but it appears to include personnel, armored vehicles and possibly artillery. Russian forces previously arrayed in the north, particularly Kyiv have all

“left” Ukraine, Kirby said.

Some have moved in Belarus and others are beginning move toward the east into Russia, he said.

The Pentagon believes the move is part of Russia’s “next phase” of its war, as it concentrates its efforts in eastern and southern Ukraine. Ukrainian and Russian forces have been fighting over the Donbas for the past eight years.

Kirby said Russia’s new focus is not impacting efforts to move security assistance into Ukraine. Between eight and 10 flights carrying supplies are headed into the region daily, from the U.S. and other countries.

Kirby warned the next phase could be “more protracted and very bloody.”

“We think that they’re going to use places like Belgorod and Valukyi as refit stations to resupply,” Kirby said. “It wouldn’t surprise anybody that they’re trying to organize themselves better for a now more geographically-confined and more specific set of target objectives.”

Russia has appointed a new general to lead efforts in Ukraine. Russia is reorganizing its attack amid failing to achieve its main objectives, including taking Kyiv and overthrowing the government, Kirby said.

“I don’t think Mr. Putin needs many signs that it hasn’t been going well for him in Ukraine,” he said.