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Russia has rejected a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine requested by the UN secretary general to evacuate civilians during the Passion Eastern Orthodox week before Easter. Russia’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations said the demand for a ceasefire was not sincere and would provide time only for arming Ukrainian troops.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Polyansky told the Security Council on Tuesday that the ceasefire demands were “insincere and in practice they simply point to a desire to allow nationalists in Kyiv to regroup and get more drones, more anti-tank missiles and more MANPADS, “the New York Times reported. “MANPADS” refers to portable air defense systems, smaller and more portable surface-to-air missiles.
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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for a four-day ceasefire to allow for evacuation in battle zones and safe corridors for food and medicine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen above. The country has consistently denied any role in the poisoning of a former spy and his daughter in the UK. (Alexey Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo by AP)
Civilians, including children, remain trapped in the eastern Donbass region, where Russian forces have launched a new fierce offensive, and in the devastated port city of Mariupol. Guterres said earlier on Tuesday that more than 12 million people in Ukraine need humanitarian aid. He predicts that number will rise to 15.7 million, about 40% of all Ukrainians remaining in the country.
Even China, which has not condemned Russia and abstained from voting on resolutions against the aggressor country, has said it supports a humanitarian ceasefire.
In this photo from May 7, 2019, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was photographed during an interview at UN headquarters. (AP Photo / Mary Altaffer, File)
Russia, as a permanent member of the Security Council, has twice used its veto power on resolutions focused on Ukraine since the invasion began in February.
Russia’s rejection comes after the head of the World Council of Churches addressed Moscow’s Patriarch Kirill, urging him to use his religious authority as head of the Russian Orthodox Church to call for a ceasefire as Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter this weekend. .
“Our humble request to Your Holiness in this specific and impossible situation is to intervene and demand a public ceasefire for at least a few hours during the Resurrection Service,” said Ioan Sauca, a Romanian Orthodox priest and acting Secretary General. of the World Council of Churches, wrote in a letter published on Tuesday.
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill celebrates Christmas Mass at Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, January 6, 2022 (AP Photo / Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Sauka called for the move to “give soldiers and terrified civilians a chance to hug and greet each other with Easter greetings, silence the bombs and rockets for a moment, and instead hear the triumphant sound of church bells and the joyful signing of the faithful.” people. Let such a brief ceasefire be a foretaste and proof that lasting peace can be achieved. “
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Sauka noted that “Orthodox and Greek Catholic believers in Ukraine, Russia and around the world are preparing to celebrate at the end of this week the most important holiday of the year – Resurrection Day.” The priest also noted that the fighting during the First World War “stopped for a moment so that the soldiers could share with each other greetings for the Resurrection.”
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