Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The witnesses are very welcome. I have a number of questions. Mrs. Shaloput might not be able to answer some of them. They are possibly outside the remit of her paper this morning. Like others, I am concerned about the continued fighting in the region and the cessation or ceasefire that clearly does not seem to be happening. It is clear from her figures that demilitarisation does not seem to be happening. The big question that we all have relates to this log-jam. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked about the upcoming summit. Does Mrs. Shaloput have confidence in terms of some sort of structure or that people will become serious about this process and will try to come up with some sort of solution in relation to it? She said that the Ukrainian Government is committed to the process, but is she optimistic about this summit? Does she believe that something can break the log-jam?

According to a UN report in March, it was estimated that at least 9,940 people were killed and 23,455 wounded between mid-April 2014 and mid-March 2017. In Mrs. Shaloput's opinion, what has caused the recent flare-ups and the violations of the ceasefires? Is there something triggering it? Is it part of this process of just slowly trying to wear people down?

The witnesses mentioned the OSCE's special monitoring mission. How many of them are operating in the region? Am I right to say that their task is to observe and report in an impartial and objective manner the situation in Ukraine and to facilitate dialogue among all parties to the crisis? Is that dialogue among all those groups and parties to the conflict happening? How important is it that the special monitoring mission continues to operate in the region? How important is it for the Ukrainian Government? Mrs. Shaloput spoke about the restriction of movement of the monitors. She might expand on what is happening. She said that shots were fired and that there was sexual harassment and so on. What other restrictions are there? Are they limited to a particular area or can they travel around the region?

On landmines, could Mrs. Shaloput provide the committee with an update on the de-mining process? As part of this demilitarisation that was supposed to be going on, how many mines have been removed from the witnesses' own side? How many were removed from the other side? Do we have any figures in relation to that? I am conscious that the witnesses may have come in here without those figures, but it would be useful to get a sense of it. We have seen how devastating mines can be to civilians long after wars.

Mrs. Shaloput gave an inventory of some of the weaponry that has been brought into the region. What is the narrative from the Russian side in relation to these weapons that are in the hands of the rebels? Are they buying them on the international market? what are they saying? How are these weapons supposed to be landing in these regions?

Another area concerns refugees. I understand that the conflict has displaced between 2 million and 3 million people. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, at least 1.6 million Ukrainians moved west towards the Ukranian capital, Kiev, as a result of the righting. Russia says that 2.6 million Ukrainians moved east. What is the Ukrainian Government doing to assist refugees? Is Ukraine receiving support from the international community to provide these refugees with humanitarian support and so on? Is there anything Ireland or, in particular, the EU can do on it?

I have a question that is outside the parameters of this meeting, but the Chairman will guide me. I wish to ask about South Sudan. I do not know if Mrs. Shaloput can comment on that. There are disturbing reports about Ukraine's connection to the war in South Sudan. Thousands have died in the war, 100,000 people are on the brink of starvation and 1 million are in danger of starvation, yet reports state that Ukraine has signed a $33 million contract to sell Mi-24 attack helicopters to forces loyal to Salva Kiir, the South Sudanese President. The UN Security Council revealed that the contract was signed long after the war on South Sudan broke out in 2013. Mrs. Shaloput might come back to me on it, but according to a leading UN investigator the helicopters are being used to target civilians. They have been reportedly used against the International Committee of the Red Cross hospital. Is Mrs. Shaloput aware of this? Is Ukraine still committed to the arms embargo placed on South Sudan? If it is, why is it clearly breaking it?

The other controversial area I wish to raise - I do not think anyone has touched on it - is the emergence of the far-right in Europe. It has been raised many times in this committee. I am particularly concerned with this within Ukraine. Some armed militias in Ukraine have been known to use Nazi and neo-Nazi insignia and so on and to propagate far-right ideology. There was concern about some of the people that were appointed to Government and so on. One could say that they were elected and so on, but they were put in important security roles within the Ukrainian Government? What is the Ukrainian Government doing to tackle these neo-Nazi militias? Mrs. Shaloput might speak about why there seems to be such a growth in that regard. Thankfully, in Ireland we have not seen that happening, but it has happened right across Europe. It is clear that it is happening in Ukraine as well. Mrs. Shaloput might give us her view on why this is happening.