The United States warned Russia on Friday that it would consider any additional Russian moves into Ukrainian territory "an invasion of Ukraine," even if done under the pretense of a humanitarian mission.
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, delivered the warning at a Security Council meeting focusing on the human rights situation in Ukraine's east, where government forces are fighting pro-Russian separatists. The clashes follow recent reports from the West and the Kiev government accusing Moscow of dispatching 20,000 troops to Ukraine-Russia border.
As the fighting in eastern Ukraine spills over into cities and residential areas, civilian casualties are on the rise. While many locals fled a few weeks ago, pro-Russian separatists blew up bridges around cities — like Donetsk, which has become the epicenter of clashes as the rebels have moved into its downtown — to prevent anyone else from leaving.
Power said Russia had floated the idea of sending in "peacekeepers" several times, most recently last week.
"A Russian peacekeeper in Ukraine is an oxymoron," Power said. "At every step in this crisis, Russians have sabotaged peace, not built it "At every step in this crisis, Russians have sabotaged peace, not built it, and it is particularly worrisome given Russia's purported annexation of Crimea. ... Peacekeepers are impartial, yet Russia fully supports Russia's armed separatists in this conflict."
Power welcomed the Ukrainian government's creation of "humanitarian corridors" to get aid into these separatist-controlled areas and allow civilians out. However, she also noted that Russia has proposed similar corridors to deliver aid to the rebels.
"The humanitarian situation needs addressing, but not by those who have caused it," she said, adding that neutral organizations, such as the Red Cross, should deliver the aid instead. Any other intervention from Russia, she said, would be "completely unacceptable and deeply alarming."
Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the U.N.'s human rights report was one-sided and failed to condemn Ukraine's forces and their reported shelling of residential areas in eastern cities Donetsk and Luhansk. He blamed "the self-defense formations for ... everything short of cannibalism."
As Ukraine's east continues down its violent path, unrest ignited this week in Kiev, which had been relatively peaceful.
Kiev's Independence Square, which was the site of the Euromaidan protests, looked like its former self on Thursday and Friday as demonstrators confronted city workers who were attempting to clear a central square. They set fire to tires as dark plumes of smoke rose over Ukraine's capital, and the fetid smell of burnt rubber permeated the air.
