Russia and Ukraine exchanged allegations of human rights violations during the opening ceremony of the 49th session of the Council in Geneva, scheduled until April 1.

Kiev representative Yevheniia Filipenko requested an urgent debate about the issue, to which her neighbor opposed, considering that it would not help to solve the conflict.

According to Russian Ambassador to the UN Gennady Gatilov, his country’s military actions initiated on Thursday have a limited nature, they do not pursue civilians and respond to a necessity, after eight years of outrages against the population of Donbass, where Moscow recognized the independence of the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.

The diplomat repudiated that the West continues to supply weapons to Kiev and argued that on the issue of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the Human Rights Council has no competence.

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