(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) w York April 14 - The situation in Ukraine is "more combustible than ever" a senior United Nations political official told an emergency session of the Security Council late last night. UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Oscar Fernandez-Taranco said "Ukraine teeters on the very brink. Without urgent action to de-escalate the crisis the likelihood of further bloodshed and violent clashes would grow by the hour." After two weeks of relative calm last week armed individuals and separatist groups began seizing government buildings and confiscating weapons in the Donetsk Oblast of Ukraine including in the cities of Donetsk Lugansk and Kharkiv he said. Some groups declared a "People's Republic of Donestk" UN Security Council Media Division said in a statement. In the last 24 hours uprisings and seizures of government buildings occurred in at least five more cities in the eastern part of the country including in the towns of Sloviansk Kramatorsk and Druzhkivka Fernandez-Taranco. United Nations human rights monitors report of duelling rallies in Kharkiv which injured 50 people. The authorities in Kyiv launched an "anti-terror" operation to reclaim Sloviansk a day well-armed well-organized pro-separatist groups overran it the UN Council said. Ukraine's Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov signed a presidential decree giving the self-declared separatists until 6 a.m. Kyiv time to give up their weapons in order to avoid prosecution Fernandez-Taranco said. The Acting President in a televised address told the nation that unless illegal activities halt the Ukrainian army would launch a full-scale operation - a move which would compel the Russian Federation to act as it said earlier. (MORE
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.