LAST UPDATE | 4 Mar 2022
MINISTER FOR FOREIGN Affairs Simon Coveney has said that the EU are “disgusted and outraged” at Russia’s “brutal” invasion of Ukraine, and said that Ireland was among the nations that requested a UN Security Council meeting on Russia’s attack last night on Europe’s largest nuclear plant.
At a UN Security Council meeting that began at 4.30pm Irish time, Moscow’s UN ambassador denied that Russian forces had shelled a nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
“These statements are simply untrue,” Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council. “This is all part of an unprecedented campaign of lies and disinformation against Russia.”
He said Russian troops had exchanged small arms fire with Ukrainian forces at Europe’s largest atomic power plant in Zaporizhzhia, but had not shelled the facility.
Earlier today, Simon Coveney attended an Extraordinary Foreign Affairs Council summit in Brussels being held today – the third such meeting of the council in a week.
No new sanctions were agreed at this summit, but a fourth will take place in the coming days, Coveney said.
“We’re meeting today to discuss how we can impact on the mindset of those in the Kremlin who seem hell-bent to brutalise their neighbours through a war that I think is going to change history on this continent,” Coveney told reporters ahead of the talks.
The foreign affairs ministers from the UK, the US and Canada also attended the Foreign Affairs summit today.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba and the Secretary General of Nato, Jens Stoltenberg will also attend the conference (the former via video link).
Coveney said that “this is why we meet” in response to a question about whether the British Government was doing enough to sanction oligarchs in London.
It’s about sending a really clear message to the world that we in the European Union and other partners are really disgusted and outraged by what we continue to see day after day in Ukraine, and Russia’s actions which are clearly a breach of international law.
“I don’t think there’s any credible argument now that war crimes are not being committed on a daily basis,” he added, noting that civilians have been targeted.
Minister Coveney said that the targeting of the Zaporizhzhia plant, the largest nuclear facility in Europe last night, was a “new red flag” raised, that could have a serious impact on all of Europe.
It’s about all of us on the continent of Europe who could potentially be impacted by an accident, or a breach, of that facility that could release radiation that would be multiples of the volumes of size of what happened at Chernobyl.
Ireland is among the nations that called for an emergency session of the Security Council on foot of that nuclear threat, Coveney said, and who also called for a meeting on providing human aid into Ukraine, possibly through humanitarian aid ‘corridors’.
The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting today at 4.30pm Irish time.
The #SecurityCouncil will hold an urgent meeting at 11:30am EST on #Russia's attack on #Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in #Ukraine.
— Ireland at UN (@irishmissionun) March 4, 2022
Ireland🇮🇪 joined 🇺🇸🇳🇴🇬🇧🇦🇱🇫🇷 in calling for the meeting.
It's essential that the #UNSC meets immediately on this extremely concerning attack. pic.twitter.com/0kb81sB6qA
The session was lead by the UK, with the United States, France, Norway, Ireland and Albania joining the call for an urgent meeting.
The six reactors at Zaporizhzhia, which can power enough energy for 4 million homes, were apparently undamaged and international monitors reported no spike in radiation.
Coveney said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been repeatedly asking for a ceasefire and for talks, which has been rejected or met with silence from Russian President Vladimir Putin, which Coveney said was “inexplicable”.
“There doesn’t seem to be any willingness to discuss a ceasefire or to discuss a pulling back out of residential areas,” Coveney said of the Russian response so far, adding that there was “no point in sugar-coating that”.
With reporting from © AFP 2022
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