Russia to submit draft Ukraine resolution at UN

Russia said it would submit a new draft resolution on Ukraine at the UN Security Council toay, saying it saw no progress in Kiev's efforts to defuse the crisis in the separatist east.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, current president of the Council, told reporters he would submit the document after consultations on the situation in Iraq.

"In this resolution we would like to draw attention to the need for Ukraine to start implementing the OSCE chairman's 'road map' prepared on the basis of the April 17 Geneva agreement," Russian news agencies quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying.

"This is a very important issue because according to our estimates, there have been attempts to depart from the balanced and just nature of those principles which have been stipulated in the 'road map', and (there have been) attempts to promote some unilateral plans which would not take into account the interests of Ukraine's southeast," he said.

Currently chaired by Swiss President Didier Burkhalter, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe has been at the forefront of attempts to try to resolve the crisis.

Churkin told reporters the Russian resolution would seek United Nations support."The adoption of that resolution will also signify support by the UN Security Council, so for us of course it's extremely important because the situation has been deteriorating there."

Another draft resolution submitted by Russia calling for a ceasefire and humanitarian corridor in Ukraine met with a cool response earlier this month and fell by the wayside.

In May, the OSCE drew up a plan to help bring the pro-Western Kiev authorities and pro-Moscow militants in the southeast to the negotiating table but no progress has been made in several rounds of dialogue that excluded the armed separatists.

Kiev announced the establishment of humanitarian corridors in the separatist east this week but Moscow said it saw no signs that the violence was subsiding or that Kiev was taking into account the interests of people in the largely Russian-speaking southeast.