Ukraine's Remarks at the UNSC Briefing on the Humanitarian Situation in Syria

I join my colleagues and thank Stephen O’Brien for his briefing.

This month seems to be no different from the previous one as the humanitarian track continues to be dominated by negative trends. It is clear from the Secretary General’s report and Stephen’s briefing.

I would like to limit my intervention today to 4 three brief observation points only.

First, we still have more than six hundred thousand people besieged. 82 % of those are besieged by the regime forces. At the same time, a sustainable humanitarian access and lift of sieges are an integral part of the Astana memorandum and the de-escalation zones concept. So, my question is: how much progress is being made in that regard? Did Damascus show the will to follow through with the Memorandum?

We are alarmed by the last UNICEF report on the suffering of millions of children in Syria. More than 2 million of them live in besieged and hard-to-reach areas across Syria with little to no humanitarian aid. Such a reckless and deliberate strategy carries fundamental risks for the long-term stability not only of Syria and Levant, but of the entire Middle East region. Depriving these children of essential necessities equals to creating the best possible environment for the Al-Qaida and ISIS recruitment campaign. Leaving Syrians without hope equals to creating a long-term terrorist safe heaven at the very heart of the region.

We are concerned by the continuing forced displacement of civilians in the eastern districts of Damascus, including Qaboun, Barzeh, Tishrin and other region of Syria that lead to negative demographic and humanitarian consequences. Such actions may amount to a violation of international humanitarian law and an attempt to change the demographic composition of modern Syria.

Syrian regime and Russia as its main sponsor must end outrages against civilians.