Michel Chossudovsky and Julie Lévesque
Global Research, July 09, 2014

In what at first appears to be a neutral statement on the violence in Ukraine, urging “all sides to put down their arms” and condemning “strong hate speech from all sides”, United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay tacitly placed the blame on the people of Donetsk and Lugansk, who are the unspoken victims of aerial bombings and mortar shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Despite numerous reports, video and photographic evidence to the effect that the Ukraine Armed Forces have been targeting civilian areas, High Commissioner Navi Pillay, basing her statements on the report of the UN Monitoring Mission to Ukraine is emphatic:

“both sides are equally to blame… and people are caught  in the crossfire between armed groups and the Ukrainian Government.”

Navi Pillay’s official statement on behalf of the United Nations is convoluted. It conveys the impression that the self-defense forces in Donesk and Lugansk rather than the Ukrainian Armed Forces including the National Guard are responsible for the abductions and killings not to mention the heavy outflow of people who are fleeing the region:

Pillay also noted that abductions by armed groups continue to be reported daily and that houses, schools and infrastructure, including water and electricity plants, have been damaged – in some cases severely enough to lead to power cuts.

The UN human rights monitoring team in Ukraine has received reports that armed groups are using the roofs of residential buildings to install anti-aircraft systems, and that they are occupying private apartments to organise sniper positions, seriously endangering residents who are not involved in the fighting. Shelling has also been reported in residential areas held by these armed groups.

The term  “armed groups” is used repeatedly by the UN Human Rights High Commissioner without revealing the identity of the “armed groups” and without clarifying who is responsible for the killings of innocent civilians.

These killings were ordered by the government of president Petro Poroshenko. The  evidence amply confirms that these killings are organized by the Armed Forces and National Guard.

Ms. Pillay is fully aware that civilian infrastructure, schools and residential areas were targeted by the Ukrainian Air Force, and that only government forces possess aircraft capable of conducting bombing raids.

According to Ms. Pillay, the Ukraine government confirmed “numerous cases of death of people in Donetsk and Luhansk who are caught in the middle of the ongoing security operations.”

This is not an “ongoing security operation”, it is an outright bombing and shelling operation directed against Ukrainian civilians led by Ukraine government forces. And Western military advisers are collaborating with government forces. 

(read the full article at Global Research)