Check against delivery

 

 

Statement 

by the Delegation of Ukraine 

on the R2P and the prevention of genocide, war crimes, 

ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity

(6 July 2026)

 

Madam President,

Ukraine aligns itself with the statement of the EU and would like to make a few remarks in its national capacity. The full version of our statement will be posted in the UN journal.

We thank the Secretary-General for his report. Ukraine agrees with its main message: the responsibility to protect only works if it is a steady policy - at the national, regional and multilateral levels. For my country, this has been our daily reality for years.

Since the start of Russia's aggression against Ukraine in 2014, Ukraine has documented a large-scale, ongoing pattern of international crimes committed by Russia against Ukrainians.

According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, in May of this year at least two hundred seventy four civilians were killed and one thousands and seven hundred sixty three were injured. That is the highest monthly figure since April 2022.

Looking at the full period, the same UN Mission reported that more than sixty two thousands and seven hundred civilian casualties have been recorded since the start of Russia's full-scale military invasion.

I want to give one recent example. Last night - less than 24 hours ago - Russian forces carried out a massive attack against Ukraine, launching four hundred nineteen aerial weapons. Once again, Kyiv became the main target of Russian terror. We are still counting the civilian casualties - people killed in their own homes by Russian missiles and drones. At least 21 people were killed, and dozens were wounded in an attack that hit numerous residential buildings across our capital and its neighborhoods. The real number of victims will likely be higher.

Russia's crimes are not limited to attacks on Kyiv. Kharkiv, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Sumy, Kramatorsk - all these Ukrainian cities are targeted by Russia on a daily basis.

This is not a random or isolated pattern. It is a planned, deliberate strategy of waging war against Ukraine and its people. This same pattern is why Russia is currently listed as a violator under two separate UN mechanisms at the same time: the mandate on children and armed conflict, and the mandate on conflict-related sexual violence.

The report reminds us that the Security Council carries special responsibility to respond to atrocity crimes. But at the onset of its full-scale invasion, Russia misused its own veto to block the Security Council from doing exactly that - acting quickly to protect civilians in Ukraine.

Where the Security Council could not act, Ukraine has had to build its own mechanisms. The Secretary-General's report rightly stresses prevention, protection and guarantees of non-recurrence as connected parts of one policy, and Ukraine has already put these in place at the national level. Ukrainian prosecutors have registered more than two hundred seventy thousands criminal cases connected to Russia's war of aggression. Ukraine also cooperates closely with the International Criminal Court, and, together with partners, established the International Compensation Mechanism, so that victims harmed by Russia's aggression can file claims and receive reparations.

Documenting crimes and compensating victims is not enough on its own - the crime of aggression itself still has no court to answer to. This is why Ukraine, together with partners, established the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, to look at the decisions that led to this war, not only the acts committed on the ground.

Madam President, prevention, protection and accountability are connected, and they should not wait until a war is over.

Thank you.