The UN Security Council held a fifth meeting on the situation in Ukraine over a period of ten days on Monday, with the Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, saying later that nothing new had been said there.

Sylvie Lucas, the permanent representative of Luxembourg who presides over the Security Council in March, said the forthcoming referendum in Crimea, which had produced a variegated reaction among the council members, was one of the main items on the agenda.

French Ambassador to the UN, Gerard Araud, insisted on the importance on continuing meetings in the Security Council format even though they did not produce any convincing results for the time being.

If there is any opportunity to bring any good then this opportunity shouldn't be missed, or otherwise there is a risk to get a worse scenario as a result.

Araud expressed the confidence that that crisis could be settled peacefully.

He supported the idea of a meeting between Security Council members and Arseny Yatsenyuk, whom Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada appointed interim prime minister, since it would be good to hear his assessment of the situation in Ukraine and to learn about the Ukrainian government's plans.

Russia's Security Council has prepared its own Ukrainian settlement proposals for the American partners to bring the Ukraine situation to the framework of international law and to take the interests of all Ukrainian citizens into account, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.