Ukraine: Weapons Supply - Security Council Briefing | United Nations

High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu today (14 Jun) reported to the Security Council that “the provision of military assistance and transfers of arms and ammunition to the Ukrainian Armed Forces have continued,” while states are “transferring, or planning to transfer,” weapons to the Russian armed forces “and that these weapons have been used in Ukraine.”

Arms transferred to Ukraine include “heavy conventional weapons such as battle tanks, armoured combat vehicles, combat aircraft, helicopters, large calibre artillery systems, missile systems and uncrewed combat aerial vehicles, as well as remotely operated munitions, small arms and light weapons and their ammunition,” while the Russian Federation has reportedly received, “weapons such as uncrewed aerial vehicles, ballistic missiles and ammunition.”

Nakamitsu warned about the “inherent risk of diversion of the equipment to unauthorized end users which raises serious concerns about the potential escalation of violence.”

She said, “addressing the risk of diversion of weapons and ammunition is essential for preventing further instability and insecurity in Ukraine, the region, and beyond,” which requires “supply chain transparency and cooperation and information exchange between importing transit and exporting states.”

Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said, “the US as part of its assistance to Ukraine is giving billions in loans which is to the benefit of its own military industrial complex, maintaining its super profits. An ocean away they are steering their European vassal and egging them on in their direct confrontation with Russia. As for Europe, which has lost even the modicum of the geopolitical independence it used to have, is blindly following the course dictated by Washington.”

Nebenzya said, “do not believe the duplicitous promises of the organizers of the pow wow in Bürgenstock,” referring to the Summit on Peace in Ukraine, to be held in Bürgenstock Resort in Switzerland next week.

He said, “this is just a primitive attempt to set another ultimatum for Russia, indirectly signing everyone who attends this closed door meeting up for that ultimatum.”

The Russian Ambassador said, “the striking hypocrisy is blatantly obvious. How can you talk about peace if the organizers of this conference are on the one hand, convening the pseudo peaceful conference and on the other hand, sending growing supplies of weapons to kill, and at the same time giving the green light for the use of those weapons on Russian territory.”

US Ambassador Robert A. Wood told the Council that the transfer of ballistic missiles and other arms and related material from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to the Russian Federation “are clear violations of Security Council resolutions.”

Wood said the United States has published material “showing a visual comparison of images from DPRK state media and images of missile debris from Kharkiv, confirming Russia used DPRK missiles against Ukraine.”

For his part Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said, “while spreading the nonsense that the possession of arms by the defending party makes peace elusive, Russia itself continues to receive weapons from rogue states like Iran and North Korea. Pyongyang has already reportedly sent to Russia more than 10,000 shipping containers that could hold nearly 5 million artillery shells.”

Moreover, he said, “Russia resource to press-ganging foreign nationals into its occupation forces in Ukraine by threatening those already in Russia or deceiving those they recruit from abroad.”