MOSCOW, May 14 (RIA Novosti) – The United Nations is in talks with authorities in Kiev who apparently have been using UN-marked helicopters in a military operation against Ukraine’s restive southeastern territories, according to the RT news channel.
“It is the responsibility of troop-contributing countries that provide contingent-owned equipment to peacekeeping missions to remove all logos and signage bearing the UN's name once such equipment has been repatriated to the home country or is no longer being used for official UN purposes,” UN spokeswoman Eri Kaneko said Wednesday.
Footage has emerged of a white Mil Mi-24 strike helicopter with a UN logo participating in the government’s crackdown operation near Kramatorsk, Donetsk region.
According to news outlet LifeNews, three further Mi-24 combat helicopters and a transport Mi-8 chopper were also spotted in the region, which has seen weeks of anti-activist operation and scores of casualties.
The UN sought to distance itself from the incident, saying it was Ukraine’s duty to remove the organization’s insignia from military hardware that had been contributed by Ukraine for its Congo peace mission.
She added the UN’s Departments of Peacekeeping Operations and Field Support had inquired into the situation with the Ukrainian authorities.
The city of Kramatorsk, together with some other Ukrainian southeastern cities, has become the focal point of pro-federalization rallies that have been ongoing since March.
To crack down on protesters, the Kiev authorities launched a large-scale operation in the regions, a move widely denounced by Moscow, leading to violent clashes and dozens of casualties.
Earlier, the government in Kiev announced its “anti-terror” operation in Slaviansk, Kramatorsk and Krasny Liman had entered a final phase. The chief of the administration of acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchinov said Ukrainian troops had “wiped out a lot of separatists," without citing a number.
