Ukraine: Maintenance of peace & security of Ukraine - Security Council | United Nations | Full

Maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine - Security Council, 9138th meeting

Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary Anne DiCarlo today (27 Sep) told the Security Council that the referenda taking place in occupied Ukrainian territories are being held “during active armed conflict in areas under Russian control outside Ukraine's legal and constitutional framework” and “cannot be called a genuine expression of the popular will.”

DiCarlo said, “unilateral actions aimed to provide a veneer of legitimacy to the attempted acquisition by force by one state of another states territory while claiming to represent the will of the people cannot be regarded as legal under international law.”

Briefing via video teleconference Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, the annexation of the captured territories, “is the most brutal violation of the UN Charter.”

Zelenskyy said, “this is an attempt to steal the territory of another state. This is an attempt to erase the norms of international law. There's a very cynical attempt to force the male population in occupied territory of Ukraine to mobilize into the Russian army in order to send them to fight against their own homeland.”

He said, “Russia's recognition of these sham referendums as normal, the implementation of the so-called Crimean scenario and another attempt to annex Ukrainian territory will mean that there is nothing to talk about with this president of Russia,” adding that “annexation is the kind of move that puts him alone against the whole of humanity.”

For his part, Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said, the referenda are “a long-awaited event for the inhabitants of Donbass who for a long time have sought to bring peace to their land that they haven't seen for eight years.”

Nebenzya said, “the inhabitants Kherson and Zaporizhzhia can finally rest assured that they will not have the right to speak Russian or to teach their children in Russian taken away from them.”

The referenda were held over the past five days in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions for residents to vote on whether they wished to become part of the Russian Federation.
--------------
Peace and Security

The Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. It has 15 Members, and each Member has one vote. Under the Charter of the United Nations, all Member States are obligated to comply with Council decisions.

The Security Council takes the lead in determining the existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression. It calls upon the parties to a dispute to settle it by peaceful means and recommends methods of adjustment or terms of settlement. In some cases, the Security Council can resort to imposing sanctions or even authorize the use of force to maintain or restore international peace and security.