Won’t Allow Bloodbath In Donbas: Russia tells UN

New York, Feb 22: Russian ambassador has defended President Vladimir Putin’s move to deploy troops at Ukraine’s separatist areas and said Moscow does not intend for a “new bloodbath in Donbas”. Speaking at the UNSC meet on Monday, Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya on Monday said that “allowing a new bloodbath in the Donbas is something we do not intend to do”. The US and allies had requested an emergency meeting of the UNSC following Russia’s recognition of separatist territories in Ukraine as independent and deploying its troops as peacekeepers. Russia remains open to diplomacy, and insisted Ukraine is still bound by the Minsk agreement, CNN quoted Vasily as saying. Earlier, Putin had ordered troops into the separatist-held parts of eastern Ukraine as part of its “peacekeeping” mission just hours after he signed decrees recognising the independence of Russia-backed regions. In an televised address on Monday, Putin had slammed Ukraine over its growing security ties with the West. He said, “The situation in Donbass is critical… Let me tell once again that Ukraine is not just a neighbouring country for us. It is an integral part of our own history, culture, and spiritual world. Ukraine is more than a neighbour.. Lenin was the creator and architect of Ukraine, including the region of Donbas. “I deem it necessary to make a decision that should have been made a long time ago to immediately recognise the Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) People’s Republics.” Replying to Russia’s move, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said that Russia’s actions violate the country’s “national integrity and sovereignty” and Ukraine’s international borders will “remain as such”, CNN reported. “We are on our land. We are not afraid of anything and anyone. We don’t owe anything to anyone, and we will not give away anything to anyone. And we are confident of this,” he said while adding that an emergency meeting with the Normandy Four has been initiated.