Mr. President,

At the outset, I would like to underline that this Open Debate can be considered as a common contribution to the efforts of international community in addressing terrorism and violent extremism not only in the region of the Middle East and North Africa but also in a more global context.

Ukraine fully supports the Security Council’s position that terrorism in all forms constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security and that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable regardless of their motivations.

Ukraine supports the central role of the United Nations in the global efforts to suppress international terrorism as well as to promote international cooperation in this field.

Ukraine reiterates its strong support for the set of measures, envisaged by the UN SC Resolutions 2170 (2014) and 2178 (2014), aimed at resolving the acute problems associated with foreign terrorist fighters.

 We share the concern that foreign terrorist fighters increase the intensity and duration of conflicts. Dealing with the threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters requires a comprehensive addressing of factors underlying this phenomenon.

Taking into account the presence of militants and terrorists from the Russian Federation in the Donbas region of Ukraine, some provisions of the above mentioned resolutions are also applicable to the situation in Ukraine.

Distinguished Members of the Council,

We remain deeply concerned about ISIL and other associated terrorist entities and the negative impact of their violent extremist ideology, and destabilizing actions in the region of the Middle East and North Africa, including the devastating humanitarian impact on the civilian population, which has led to the displacement of millions of people.

Our country strongly condemns the crimes and acts of mass violence that ISIL commits in particular in Syria and Iraq against civilians, including the most vulnerable minorities.

 Ukraine shares the view that the activity of such terrorist groups as ISIL and Jabhat al-Nusra and their violent ideology constitute a threat to the entire international community.

We commend all possible steps, including appropriate military operations against ISIL forces, conducted by the international coalition aimed at complete removal of terrorist threats from the region. We also believe that the fight against ISIL and other terrorist groups must be accompanied by a positive political transformation in Syria and democratization of its state institutions.

At the same time combatting activities of individual terrorists and terrorist groups is insufficient if the problem of sponsor states is not properly addressed. This is true in the cases of both the Middle East and the Donbas region of Ukraine.  

Considering some current developments in Syria, particularly Russia's military build-up in this country and the use of military, we share the opinion that as of today it seems to be about advancing its own, narrowly defined interests, which do not coincide with interests of the Syrian people. In this regard we are deeply concerned about the reports coming from Syria that the airstrikes carried out by the Russian airforce resulted in deaths of dozens of civilians.

We also find it very disturbing that attempts are being undertaken to tilt the discussion on the Syrian crisis in the direction of how to best accommodate the interests of the Russian Federation instead of how to address the root causes of the current crisis in the Middle East, while ignoring the plight and genuine interests of the Syrian people. Yielding to this approach risks exacerbation of the situation in Syria, thus continuing to push Syrians from their homes with subsequent deepening of the migration crisis.

In light of the said above we welcome statements of the leaders of the anti-ISIL coalition that further interaction with the Russian Federation in the fight against ISIL will not come at the expense of the integrity of their position towards the Russian Federation on issues of principles in other parts of the world, where Russia is directly implicated in conflict situations.

Your Excellencies,

We would like to say once again that Ukraine strongly encourages all member States to cooperate in the field of ensuring international security to achieve a comprehensive strategy on countering international terrorism in all its aspects.

Anti-terrorism activities should play a central role in the UN efforts to address transnational threats to security, which have dramatically evolved and are not confined to national boundaries.

In this respect, we welcomed the initiative concerning the Leaders’ Summit on Countering ISIL and Violent Extremism held yesterday. We consider this event as an important step in achieving unity in addressing global threats stemming from terrorist organizations and their activity.

Thank you for your attention.