“We should not also forget that the current relative calm in the conflict area may be just another manifestation of the repeating pattern we have been observing in Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict,” Simonovic told the Security Council, according to the UN website.
“A surge in hostilities accompanied by massive civilian casualties, which is followed by a ceasefire agreement, which is then followed by a decrease in hostilities and civilian casualties, and which is once again followed by a new escalation of hostilities,” he said referring to the current reinvigorated ceasefire agreed on in August.
“This must not happen again. The overall death toll of the conflict is already too high,” he added, stressing that the current figure in eastern Ukraine of at least 9,115 people killed is a conservative estimate, with the real number considered to be higher.
Read alsoUN: Men, arms, still pour into east Ukraine from RussiaIn a report issued earlier this week the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine warned that the situation remains “highly flammable” due the inflow of ammunition, weaponry and fighters from Russia into territories controlled by armed groups.
It also reported that serious human rights abuses against people in the territories controlled by the self-proclaimed “Donetsk people’s republic” and “Luhansk people’s republic” continue, including killings, torture, ill-treatment, illegal detention and forced labour.
Read alsoKlimkin tells UNSC how to control militants' arms withdrawal in DonbasEchoing this, Simonovic told the Security Council that local residents remain without effective protection of their rights, with places of detention maintained by the armed groups virtually inaccessible for independent oversight.
