UN Security Council Meeting
Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to Russia said in a statement in she gave at the 24th meeting of the United Nations Security Council that Putin's Russia is "manipulating" and "lying" about its affairs in Ukraine. In response, the Russian representative stated that America should stop interfering with the affairs of other sovereign states.
Ukraine military officials have made it known that there is a full scale invasion of the country by Russia. Russian tanks, personnel carriers and even planes are entering Ukraine to be used by the pro-Russian rebels. There is believed to be a considerable number of Russians who are fighting alongside the rebels. A leader of the pro-Russian rebels announced that there are around 3,000 to 4,000 Russian citizens fighting in Ukraine.
According to the Associated Press, Vitaly Churkin, the Russian ambassador who was present at the U.N. Security Council meeting said that Russia does not deny that there are Russian fighters in Ukraine. However, he told ambassador Power that America should "stop interfering in the internal affairs of sovereign states."
Last Wednesday, Petro Poroshenko, the president of Ukraine said he had to cancel a planned trip to Turkey due to "Russian troop deployments" in the country. Other Ukrainian officials and representatives from other countries who participated in the U.N. Security Council have come to the same conclusion in every meeting, which is for Russia to stop the invasion of Ukraine immediately, especially pointing toward the fact that they are supplying the rebels with weapons.
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia has continually denied all of the accusations. "I'm calling on insurgents to open a humanitarian corridor for Ukrainian troops who were surrounded in order to avoid senseless deaths," Putin said through Fox News. However, the Security Council has expressed great disappointment in Russia's attitude.
Meanwhile, the White House announced that President Poroshenko of Ukraine will be visiting the United States to see President Obama.
