GENEVA
The Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations Yuri Klymenko said Tuesday at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, "If there is aggression against eastern and southern parts of Ukraine, we will use self-defense."
"We are worried about what is happening in the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine and it happens because of the direct support of Russia on protests and provocations," Klymenko continued, adding "Crimea remains Ukrainian territory. We are going to cooperate with the international community particularly the U.S., UN and NATO to change the current situation."
With a view to Thursday's meeting at the UN's Geneva headquarters, between Russia, Ukraine, U.S. and the EU, Klymenko said that while the internal issues of Ukraine would not be discussed they will "definitely discuss Ukraine's debt and natural gas issues. They affect Europe and many other countries...It will be beneficial for both countries to solve this issue."
The UN also released a report on Ukraine and its human rights Tuesday. The report stated that there is an urgent need to counter misinformation, propaganda and incitement to hatred in Ukraine, in order to avoid the further escalation of tension in the country. Kylmenko said the report was balanced and showed that the referendum in Crimea did not correspond to the existing standards of human rights.
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