Ukraine War: India maintained that the security of civilian’s properties during armed conflict should be factored in line with appropriate international law.
India has remarked that significant civilian buildings in urban regions have now become an easy mark in situations of armed conflict. India has expressed great worry over reports of civilian casualties in the continuing Russia-Ukraine discord.
The crisis caused millions of people to lose their dwellings and be compelled to seek sanctuary in bordering countries, according to India’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador R. Ravindra, who was talking at the UN Security Council Briefing on Ukraine on Tuesday. He even said women, children, and the elderly have experienced the most suffering in the scenario.
According to Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, the Russian rocket attack on a mall in the Ukrainian province of Kremenchuk caused the deaths of 18 people and 59 injured, with the eventual death toll potentially considerably greater.
“India remains deeply concerned over the situation in Ukraine,” Mr Ravindra added.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky also spoke digitally at the Council meeting, currently the second time since the conflict’s commencement in February that the influential 15-nation UN body has heard from him first-hand.
India further stated that the preservation of human assets in armed conflicts should be factored in accordance with applicable international law. India has already fiercely decried the massacre of Bucha’s civilians and backed the demand for an unbiased inquiry.
The Secretary-spokesperson, General’s Stéphane Dujarric, stated on Monday that, “any attack that hits a shopping mall is utterly deplorable.”
“Reports of deaths of civilians in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict are deeply disturbing and in this regard, we express our grave concern. In recent years, critical civilian infrastructure in urban areas have become easy targets in situations of armed conflict,” Mr Ravindra said.
“Hundreds of people, perhaps even some trying to get a respite from the daily horrors of the war, suffered one of the most shocking attacks of the conflict when a shopping centre was hit by what are reported to be Russian missiles,” she said, adding that the event, which has to be looked into, was the most recent in a string of airstrikes and ballistic assaults that have killed or maimed several civilians in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, and other towns far from the battle lines.
“This horrific conflict, an open source of instability in Europe, shows no signs of abating,” she said.
Mr. Ravindra further said that India has constantly supported for the route of peace, communication, and diplomacy and urged for a complete cessation of all hostilities since the start of the war in Ukraine.
“We support all efforts to alleviate the suffering of the people of Ukraine, especially talks” between Ukraine and Russia. He added that India has also been supplying civilian necessities to Ukraine and bordering nations, that include medical material and other needed essentials.
He stressed that the influence of the Ukraine crisis is not just felt in Europe and that it is heightening anxieties about the security of food, fertilizers, and energy, especially those in developing countries.
“It is necessary for all of us to adequately appreciate the importance of equity, affordability and accessibility when it comes to food grains. Open markets must not become an argument to perpetuate inequity and promote discrimination,” he said.
Mr Ravindra added to the Council that India is trying to increase the manufacturing of chemical fertilizers.
“There is also a need to focus on the availability of fertilisers and keep the supply chains of fertilisers smooth at a global scale. Similarly, efforts should be made to ensure stability in the global supply of fuel commensurate with the demand,” he said.
Mr. Ravindra further said that India is determined to collaborate proactively in terms of reducing the negative effects of the conflict on food and nutrition security. The World Food Programme should be exempted from food export restrictions when purchasing food for emergency aid, according to the Global Crisis Response Group Task Team’s suggestion.
India has already been offering food grains and cash support to nations devastated by the unrest in Ukraine.
India has sent 1.8 million tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sudan and Yemen in the last two months. “We are also helping our neighbour Sri Lanka to ensure their food security,” he said.
Zelensky suggested that as a reaction to Russia’s conduct in his homeland, it should be excluded from the UN as a “terrorist state.”
He highlighted that the Russian invasion of Ukraine “demonstrates not only the significance of this idea but also the urgent requirement to entrench it legally,” noting that the UN lacks a definition of what defines a “terrorist state.”
“Russia has no right to take part in discussions and votes on the war against Ukraine” in the Security Council, he said, stressing ambassadors “to rid the delegation of the terrorist State.”
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