UN Security Council holds meeting on Ukraine

The United Nations Security Council has held an emergency meeting on the rising tensions in Ukraine’s eastern cities.

At the late Sunday’s meeting, Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin blamed Ukraine’s pro-Western government for the rising tensions in the country.

He said terrible actions tallied by the authorities in Kiev threatened to tear apart the fragile fabric of the Ukrainian society.

Churkin also accused the interim government of cracking down on the peaceful protests of the Ukrainian people with the use of forces and draconian measures.

The Russian envoy called on the Ukrainian authorities to stop further bloodshed and hold a national dialog with the participation of all groups.

He also urged Western countries to shoulder their responsibility in avoiding a full-scale civil war in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the UN, accused Russia of being behind the armed seizure of governmental buildings in eastern Ukraine. She added that Russia’s amassing of troops near the Ukrainian border was aimed at further escalating the tensions.

Tensions between the Western powers and Moscow heightened after Crimea declared independence from Ukraine and formally applied to become part of the Russian Federation following a referendum on March 16, in which nearly 97 percent of voters in Crimea chose to rejoin Russia.