New Delhi: The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Monday to discuss the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Ukraine triggered by the Russian invasion.
After the meeting, which will be a public session, the 15 members of the UNSC will meet behind closed doors to discuss a possible draft resolution, news agency AFP reported, quoting a diplomat who did not wish to be named.
This closed-door meeting has been proposed by Mexico and France, who are pushing a draft resoluting calling for an end to all hostilities in Ukraine and begin unhindered flow of humanitarian aid.
But the draft has run into an obstacle as the United States, one of the member countries of the council, has said it will not support the resolution until it clearly mentions that Russia has caused the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, the AFP report said.
According to the report, France was eager to discuss the matter last week and had pushed for an early vote but it did not happen. And after US criticism, it has taken a step back and does not seem to be pushing for a quick vote any more.
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Since the Russian invasion on February 24, over 300 civilians are confirmed to have been killed in Ukraine, and over 700 are wounded, news agency Reuters reported, citing the UN monitoring mission. However, it said the actual fugires could be "considerably higher".
The maximum number of casualties, 503, were reported from Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, and 374 casualties in the government-controlled territories, said the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Meanwhile, Ukraine has said that over 11,000 Russian troops have been killed in the conflict so far, Reuters reported.