Pakistan calls for ‘immediate’ truce in Ukraine war as civilian casualties mount

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 23 (APP):As civilians continue to pay the high cost of war, Pakistan has called for resumption of diplomatic efforts towards an “immediate and complete” cessation of hostilities between Ukraine and Russia in a bid to end this four-year-old conflict.

“We firmly believe that for sustainable peace to return to the region, primacy must be given to dialogue and diplomacy, eschewing the quest for military ascendency,” Ambassador Usman Jadoon, deputy permanent representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, told the UN Security Council on Monday.

Ukraine requested the 15-member Council’s meeting to discuss what Kyiv called a massive wave of Russian missile and drone strikes against it. Five Council members — Denmark, France, Greece, Latvia, and the United Kingdom — supported the request.

“There has been no good news unfortunately, as the vicious cycle of attacks continue to aggravate the long-drawn conflict in Ukraine,” the Pakistani delegate said, further  compounding the humanitarian situation, piling on the agony for the civilian population and related infrastructure.

Ambassador Jadoon called for reversing “this perilous momentum,” saying the primary responsibility for this rests with the parties.

He underscored the need to build trust between the parties and create necessary conditions conducive for the revival of the dialogue process.

“We reiterate our call for an immediate and complete cessation of hostilities, and the resumption of the United States-facilitated dialogue process,” the Pakistani envoy said.

Mutually acceptable settlement, consistent with the UN Charter and legitimate security interests of all sides as well as relevant multilateral agreements, he said, was the only viable path to lasting peace.

Opening the debate, Khaled Khiari, UN Assistant Secretary-General, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, said that since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, at least 16,126 civilians, including 796 children, have been killed in Ukraine.

Most recently, he said, on 15 June, the Russia launched yet another massive, deadly strike on Ukraine, hitting Kyiv and several regions of Ukraine with dozens of missiles and hundreds of drones.  He also highlighted damage to historic sites such as an eleventh-century  Dormition Cathedral, a Ukrainian spiritual and cultural landmark.

Khiari expressed concern about the impact of the war on civilians in territories of Ukraine under the temporary occupation of the Russia — including in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol — as well as on civilians in the Russia.  Highlighting several incidents, he noted that on 18 June, 17 people, including children, were reportedly injured in a Ukrainian drone strike — the largest such strike targeting Moscow and surrounding areas since the start of the war.

According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), last month at least 274 civilians were killed and 1,763 injured in Ukraine.  “We reiterate our firm condemnation of all such attacks,” he said.

“The choices made [in the Council] can mean lives saved or lives lost,” Edem Wosornu, Director of the Crisis Response Division in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said.

She called on the Council to ensure that all parties comply with international human rights law obligations.

The second imperative is to provide timely, flexible funding, Ms. Wosornu said. Without it, she stressed that “the consequences fall on the most vulnerable and least able to move out of harm’s way”.