By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, June
22 -- On
Ukraine UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon called
Petro
Poroshenko on
June 21, the
UN read-out on
June 22:
"The
Secretary-General
praised
President
Poroshenko's
peace
plan. He
expressed hope
that President
Poroshenko's
plan would
gain momentum
and reduce
violence and
tensions in
eastern
Ukraine, and
he reiterated
the United
Nations'
commitment to
help resolve
the crisis in
eastern
Ukraine."
Meanwhile
Ban's top two
spokespeople
have yet to
answer or even
acknowledge
receipt of Press
questions submitted
on June 20.
Back
on June 20 when
Ukraine's
Ambassador
Yuriy Sergeyev
scheduled a UN
press
conference for
10 am, Inner
City Press
went to cover
it rather than
go to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
speech on
Syria
(reported on
here).
The UN
Press Briefing
Room was
nearly empty.
Photo
here. Sergeyev
described what
he called the
forthcoming
plan of
President
Petro
Poroshenko,
and UN human
rights
official Ivan
Simonovic's
report.
Inner
City Press
asked Sergeyev
about the
killing of
civilians, in
particular
five year old
Arseny
Danchenko
reportedly
killed by
mortars in
Golubovka near
Slovyansk, and
on behalf of
the new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
about the
killing and
abuse of
journalists.
Sergeyev
and
his
spokesperson
said the
killing of the
boy had been
discredited,
with neighbors
saying the
parents were
paid to feign
the death.
Inner City
Press asked,
so the boy is
alive? We may
have more on
this. Video
here.
On the
journalists,
Sergeyev said
they were
traveling with
fighters or
terrorists and
should have
worn helmets;
he answered
Inner City
Press about
confessions
other
journalist had
given. Inner
City Press
left his
briefing at
10:30 am, to cover
Ban Ki-moon
speech by
webcast, here.
At
noon, Inner
City Press
asked UN
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric for
any comment on
Ukraine and
what Sergeyev
called
Poroshenko's
forthcoming
plan. Dujarric
said “the
Secretary
General
welcomes Pres
Poroshenko's...
fourteen peace
plan,” and
called it
“encouraging.”
Inner
City Press
asked, the
shelling of
Slovyansk? Any
comment on
that?
Dujarric
repeated
a “blanket
call for
cessation of
all violence
that we have
seen and
continue to
see.”
Russian
Ambassador
Vitaly Churkin
called a 12:30
pm press
conference to
respond to
Sergeyev. Photo
here.
Inner City
Press asked
Churkin about
spokesman
Dujarric's
praise for the
Secretary
General of the
Poroshenko
plan.
Churkin
said,
“I'll have to
look at the
Secretary
General's
comments...
I'd think a
senior offical
would want to
look at the
plan before
welcoming it.”
Inner
City Press
asked about
what Sergeyev
said about the
killed
journalists.
Churkin
replied that
Sergeyev “goes
to details
into what
happened,
sometimes
details
change. To me,
this is
another
indication of
the claim that
is made in our
media that
those
journalists
were followed
and targeted
for several
days before
targeted and
killed.”
Inner
City Press
hopes to hear
back from the
Ukrainian side
(while noting
perhaps its 10
am press
conference
should have
been
re-scheduled:
the result is
Sergeyev spoke
to an almost
empty room,
while Churkin
replied to a
much larger
audience).
On a
second round,
Inner City
Press asked
Churkin about
Paragraph 171
of Simonovic's
report, about
the bombing of
the Luhansk
administration
building on
June 2.
Earlier this
week,
Simonovic told
Inner City
Press his team
had no
expertise in
armaments.
Inner City
Press asked
Churkin, who's
paying for
this team?
Churkin
said
“if the United
Nations is
paying, I
think they are
wasting a lot
of time. For
this attack,
they used
projectiles,
one of them is
stuck in the
ground next to
the building.
And they don't
have experts?”
Churkin
said
he hadn't yet
read Ban
Ki-moon's
Syria speech,
which Inner
City Press has
covered
here.
Watch this
site.
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