At UNSC meet, India again flags Ukraine killings

New Delhi, September 8

India has once again described the Bucha killings in Ukraine as “deeply disturbing”, but bracketed this conflict with other civil wars in other parts of the world, including Afghanistan, Yemen, Mali and Sudan.

This is the second time at the UN Security Council that India has condemned the killings in Bucha, which had been under Russian occupation until recently but was wrested back by the Ukrainian forces. At the same time, India’s Permanent Representative at the UN, Ruchika Kamboj, drew attention to the civilian suffering in many parts of the globe.

Kamboj pointed out that the report of the UN Secretary General paints a distressing picture of civilian suffering all over. There have been over 11,000 civilian casualties in various conflicts in 2021, with over 45 per cent of these being in India’s neighbourhood in Afghanistan alone. Over 14 crore people are reeling under conflict-induced hunger and 8.4 crore are being forcibly displaced, with women and children forming the large majority of internally displaced persons.

The Ukraine conflict has wider ramifications as it is exacerbating concerns over food, fertiliser and fuel security, particularly in the developing countries.