Foreign Secretary condemns indefensible violence and deaths in Ukraine
On arrival at the Foreign Affairs Council, Foreign Secretary William Hague called on Ukrainian government to prevent further violence.
Foreign Secretary arriving at the Foreign Affairs Council
Before entering discussions with other EU Foreign Ministers about the situation in Kyiv, Foreign Secretary William Hague said:
The latest scenes and events in Kyiv, including the killing of more protestors we’ve heard about this morning are utterly unacceptable and indefensible and the United Kingdom condemns these actions in the strongest terms.
By permitting such actions to take place, the Ukrainian Government is putting itself at odds with reasonable opinion all across the world.
We have summoned the Ukrainian Ambassador in London this morning to register our emphatic protest at these events and to call for immediate and far reaching change in the attitude of the Ukrainian authorities to ensuring a peaceful and democratic settlement of the issues in Ukraine.
It is not right to describe protestors as terrorists. A great many of them of course are simply seeking a better future for their country.
I think the European Union today has to act in a way that helps to stop the violence because without an end to the violence there will be no other progress of any kind in Ukraine either politically or in the desperate economic situation of the country.
So helping to stop the violence is the immediate priority. But we also have to act in a way that ultimately promotes a peaceful and democratic settlement of all of these issues. There has to be an international response to what has happened over the last few days and that is why we will be discussing sanctions measures against those responsible for the violence.
It is time on all sides for people to turn away from violence. But the Ukrainian Government of course bears the greatest responsibility and the particular responsibility to take the lead in making sure that happens.
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