Comment by the Delegation of Ukraine to the UN regarding Russia-initiated Security Council meeting on “Threats to international peace and security” on 25 July 2024
In connection with the Security Council’s meeting initiated by the Russian Federation under agenda item “Threats to international peace and security” on July 25, 2024, the Delegation of Ukraine to the UN deplores yet another attempt by Russia to use the Council’s platform to whitewash its war of aggression against Ukraine and deny responsibility for the war crimes and crimes against humanity that Russian troops have been committing in Ukraine.
This will be the sixteenth Council meeting since September 2022 called by Russia to address the contrived problem of “weapon supplies to Ukraine.” The most absurd part of the Russian propaganda disseminated by the Russian delegation and its puppet “briefers” at such meetings has been the regular blame placed on the victim of its aggression for using weapons, including those supplied by Ukraine’s allies, to defend itself in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter.
We deplore the current attempt, which will have further detrimental effects on the Council’s credibility, especially as Russia is making it from the chair’s seat.
At the same time, it is clear that the frequency of such meetings can hardly help Russia lend credibility to its fake narratives as they often completely contradict each other. The Russian missile strike against the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv on July 8, 2024, serves as the most recent example. Within a week, the Russian delegation provided here in the UN HQ two different explanations for this horrific crime.
First, putin’s envoy Nebenzia said at the Security Council meeting on July 9, 2024, that “it's clearly seen that, without any interference, a single rocket hits the Children's Hospital, a rocket of the Air Defense of Ukraine. It's impossible to mistake it due to the easily recognizable rocket fin assembly and other traits… There is every reason to believe that the hospital was hit by the Ukrainian air defense missile that was meant to intercept the Russian missile targeted to the [Artem] plant.”
Putin’s envoy even named the type of this presumed missile as well as its supplier, cynically telling the Council that they “are also waiting for a reaction from the Norwegian authorities, who seem to have supplied Zelensky's clique with NASAMS. Did they authorize Kiev to use the system to hit a children's hospital…?”
Just a week later, on July 17, 2024, Russian minister Lavrov said, during his press-conference in the UN HQ, that “when we struck military and also energy infrastructure in Ukraine that's related to the military, one of these missiles were shot down by Ukrainian air defenses. And these air defenses were in fact deployed there, in violation of international humanitarian law, next to residential housing, social facilities, and some of what was struck down fell on "Okhmatdyt", a Children's Hospital in Kyiv.”
We expect that the Council’s members will use the meeting on 25 July to question putin’s envoy about what kind of lie the Russian delegation is going to propagate further– Nebenzia’s lie about a “single Ukrainian air-defence missile” or the lie by his boss Lavrov about the remnants of the Russian missile hit by the Ukrainian air-defence.
We also expect that the Council’s members will use the meeting to recall the evidence presented in the Chamber on July 9, 2024 by the Delegation of Ukraine which testifies that the Okhmatdyt facilities were in fact hit by a Russian Kh-101 missile.
Russia’s missile terror against civilians remains one of the main tools broadly used by Russia to intimidate Ukrainians and to suppress their will to resist. On July 19, Russia hit a children's playground near a residential building in Mykolaiv. Three civilian residents were killed, including a twelve-year-old boy. Twenty-four people were injured, including 4 children.
On July 24, Russia launched a missile attack against Kharkiv, causing new causalities among local residents and damage to civilian infrastructure. Among other civilian facilities, Russian missiles hit the office of the Fondation Suisse de Déminage, the Swiss humanitarian organization specializing in mine action.
We have already drawn attention to the clear trend when such missile strikes against Ukrainian cities happen on the eve of Russia-initiated meetings on “weapon supplies”.
Along with missiles, Russia continues to widely employ in its war against Ukraine guided aerial bombs weighing up to 3 tons. In June alone, the Russian army used more than 2,400 guided aerial bombs against Ukraine. About 700 of them were dropped in the Kharkiv region.
The continued military support for Russia’s war of aggression, including by Iran and the DPRK remains a matter of grave concern, and should be addressed by the Security Council.
We would also like to draw the attention of Council members to the threat posed by Russia’s mining activities in the area of the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. It is worth mentioning that the UNGA resolution “Safety and security of nuclear facilities of Ukraine, including the ZNPP”, adopted on July 11, 2024, urges Russia to immediately remove all anti-personnel mines placed along the perimeter of the ZNPP.
We reiterate that the only strategic advantage that Russia fully exploits to inflict harm on as many Ukrainians as possible is its superiority in the skies. It is impossible to shoot down all Russian missiles and drones; it is also not possible to intercept guided aerial bombs at all.
However, it is possible to destroy Russian bomb and missile carriers, deployment sites, launch sites, storage facilities and logistical routes. Doing so will not only weaken Russia's aerial terror against Ukraine, but also significantly reduce its capacities to further escalate the situation on the ground in Ukraine and to aggravate security threats worldwide.
Military assistance to Ukraine in defending its sovereign territory and population should therefore be considered an efficient contribution to deterring the aggressive Russian regime and preventing the spillover of its aggression to new countries and regions. In this vein, lifting all limitations on the use of the weapons supplied – something that is long overdue – will also have a de-escalatory effect. This will save lives of Ukrainians, sober the aggressor and push the Kremlin towards acceptance of the logic of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace, based on the principles of the UN Charter.
The Delegation of Ukraine reiterates its principled position on the illegitimacy of the occupation of the Soviet permanent seat in the Security Council by the Russian Federation. Hence, Russia has no right, from either a legal or moral perspective, to serve in the presidency of the Security Council.
In this regard, we do not consider it possible to participate in Security Council meetings chaired by the Russian Federation unless there are justified reasons related to the necessity of bringing urgent information to the Council’s attention as it was the case following the recent Russian strike on the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv. At that time, the Delegation of Ukraine asked its partners – members of the Council – to initiate an emergency Council meeting and addressed the Security Council with a request to participate under Rule 37 of the Council’s Provisional Rules of Procedure.
The meeting was held on July 9, 2024, and we regretted that the Russian Federation did not show respect to Rule 20 of the Council’s Provisional Rules of Procedure. However, due to the urgency and severity of the issue – the war crime committed by Russia against the children’s hospital – the Delegation of Ukraine participated in the meeting and did not raise the issue of the application of Rule 20.
There is no such justification with regard to the Council’s meeting on July 25, 2024, called by the Russian Federation for the purpose of propaganda and manipulation. Therefore, we could not tolerate in this case both Russia in the chair’s seat and its disregard for Rule 20 of the Council’s Provisional Rules of Procedure.
As is known, Rule 20 gives the Council President the discretion to cede the presidential chair whenever he or she “deems that for the proper fulfilment of the responsibilities of the presidency he should not preside over the Council during consideration of a particular question with which the member he represents is directly connected.” In such cases, the “presidential chair shall then devolve, for the purpose of the consideration of that question, on the representative of the member next in English alphabetical order.”
This happened in the Council’s history before and the Delegation of Ukraine considers that the Russian war of aggression serves as a striking example of such a question, and that Russia’s chairing seriously affects its consideration.