Russia at the UN: "Our signals about the need to stop the provocations against Lugansk and Donetsk have gone unheard."

247 - Russia's permanent representative to the UN, Vasili Nebenzia, said on Thursday (24) at an urgent Security Council meeting on the situation in Donbass that Moscow's signals about the need to stop provocations against the people's republics of Lugansk and Donetsk "have not been heeded."

"I regret to say that our signals to Kyiv about the need to stop the provocations against the People's Republics of Lugansk and Donetsk have gone unheard," the diplomat said. "It seems that our Ukrainian colleagues, who have recently been actively armed and incited by various countries, have not lost the illusion that, with the blessing of Western healers, they can achieve a military solution to the Donbass problem," he said.

Similarly, Nebenzia noted that even last week there was hope that Kiev would come to its senses, but that this required direct dialogue with the people's republics. The senior official stressed that Russian authorities remain open to dialogue, but do not intend to allow a "new bloody massacre" in Donbass.

"I would like to reiterate that the root of the current crisis surrounding Ukraine lies in the actions of Ukraine itself, which has been involved for many years in sabotaging its direct obligations under the Minsk agreements," he added.

Meanwhile, he stressed that the special military operation in Donbass, announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin, should not be called a war. "Russia is not acting against the Ukrainian people, but against the junta that has seized power in Kiev," he concluded.