Ukraine and Russia clashed at a UN Security Council meeting March 19 over Moscow's annexation of Crimea.
Kyiv's ambassador to the UN, Yuriy Sergeyev, told the meeting of the Security Council on Ukraine that Russia's annexation of the peninsula was "illegitimate" and constituted a "violent dismembering" of Ukrainian territory.
Russia's UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, said people in Crimea voted freely in a referendum to join Russia and that "a historic injustice had been righted caused by a pen stroke of former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev," who awarded Crimea to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1954.
During the meeting, US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power criticized Russia's "blatant disregard for global opinion and the legal rights of Ukraine."
It was the council's eighth meeting in three weeks on Ukraine.
Kyiv's ambassador to the UN, Yuriy Sergeyev, told the meeting of the Security Council on Ukraine that Russia's annexation of the peninsula was "illegitimate" and constituted a "violent dismembering" of Ukrainian territory.
Russia's UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, said people in Crimea voted freely in a referendum to join Russia and that "a historic injustice had been righted caused by a pen stroke of former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev," who awarded Crimea to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1954.
During the meeting, US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power criticized Russia's "blatant disregard for global opinion and the legal rights of Ukraine."
It was the council's eighth meeting in three weeks on Ukraine.