UKRAINE-CRISIS/USA-POWER U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power gives a public speech in Kiev

Record ID: 150864

  • Title: UKRAINE-CRISIS/USA-POWER U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power gives a public speech in Kiev
  • Date: 11th June 2015
  • Summary: KIEV, UKRAINE (JUNE 11, 2015) (REUTERS) U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N. SAMANTHA POWER COMING ONTO STAGE (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N. SAMANTHA POWER, SAYING: "The message of the United States throughout this Moscow-manufactured conflict, and the message you heard from President Obama and other world leaders at last week's meeting of the G7 has never wavere
  • Embargoed: 26th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAAW498LGLJ5WC9K0X7GB85IZ2
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The United States envoy in the U.N. Samantha Power expressed support to Ukraine and warned Russia against violating Ukraine's territorial integrity as she addressed Kiev residents on Thursday (June 11).
    Power said the United States would continue to put pressure on Russia over its role in the separatist uprising in the east of the country.
    "The message of the United States throughout this Moscow-manufactured conflict, and the message you heard from President Obama and other world leaders at last week's meeting of the G7 has never wavered. If Russia continues to disregard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and if Russia continues to violate the rules upon which international peace and security rest, then the United States will continue to raise the costs on Russia," she said.
    On Wednesday (July 10) Power visited the memorial to the victims of anti-government protest in February 2014 that toppled the president, Viktor Yanukovich.
    More than 100 protesters were gunned down in the Maidan uprising. The victims are now known as "the Heavenly Hundred."
    The U.S. envoy praised efforts of the Ukrainian people to promote changes in the country.
    "The Kremlin also underestimated your resolve to see through the process you started on the Maidan, to build a system that answers to you, the Ukrainian people, rather than to the oligarchs or to Moscow. And that is your unflagging commitment to that process, that has been the driving force behind the reforms that you are trying to achieve," she said, adding that Ukraine can count on Washington's support.
    "The United States has been with the Ukrainian people since the first brave protesters went out on the Maidan, and since the first little green man showed up in Crimea and the Donbass. We have never left your side, and we are not going to leave your side now, when your hardship is great, your obstacles - many, and your path to change - long," Power said.
    A ceasefire between the two sides brokered in February by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France remains technically in force, but regular skirmishes are claiming lives almost daily on both sides.
    Moscow denies sending troops into Ukraine or helping to arm the rebels. The United Nations says more than 6,400 people have been killed in the conflict, which erupted in April 2014.
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