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Statement by the Delegation of Ukraine at the UN Security Council meeting on “Maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine”

(10 September 2024)

Mr. President, distinguished members of the Security Council, Acting Under-Secretary-General Msuya,

I also recognize the continuing occupation of the seat of the Soviet Union by the dictator’s envoy, or rather the presence of a lonely young Russian diplomat abandoned by her cowardly adult male colleagues.

The whining of the Russian envoy about a defense operation on Russian territory is a striking contrast to Putin’s radio silence and the Russian Ministry of Defense’s denial of events on Russian territory. It is not for the first time that the Russian envoy is out of tune with his masters – let’s recall the night of the full-scale invasion in this Chamber.

We have addressed the Security Council with a request to convene this meeting due to the recent spike in missile terror by Russia against Ukrainian people and critical infrastructure. This escalation is causing widespread suffering and devastation and must be addressed before it leads to an even larger humanitarian catastrophe.

It speaks volumes that we are meeting in this Chamber simultaneously with participating in the opening of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, taking place right now. This will be the fourth session during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and it opens not with the fanfare that usually accompanies the beginning of a new GA annual cycle, but with the explosions of ballistic missiles and the cries of wounded Ukrainian civilians.

Indeed, if Russia had not started this war, we could have been sitting in the GA Hall, sharing positive expectations for the forthcoming 80^th anniversary of our Organization.

Instead, we hear the Secretary-General's acknowledgment that today’s global order simply does not work for everyone. Instead we hear the former PGA admitting that we do not have the capacity nor do we have the mission to force Russians to respect international law.

Meanwhile, on the eve of the Summit of the Future, we are debating whether we can even use the word "aggression" in its final document. And all this time, Russia continues to openly wipe their feet on the UN Charter and to kill Ukrainians.

This is what we have today and if it does not change it will shape our future. A future that will differ drastically from the vision to be enshrined in the Pact for the Future.

The series of recent tragedies in Ukraine, occurring almost daily, indicates that the war of annihilation against my country continues, fueled by blind hatred and a criminal instinct to kill and destroy.

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reported at least 184 civilians killed and 856 injured in Ukraine in August - the second highest monthly number of civilian casualties in 2024, immediately after July. This means that Russia is intent on maintaining a dangerously high level of threat to civilians, considering them a priority target.

Over the past two weeks, the Russian attacks have resulted in a significant number of casualties and much destruction.

On 30 August, Russia used guided aerial bombs to strike a residential building along with a nearby playground, as well as an educational facility in the city of Kharkiv, killing at least 7 people, including a child, and injuring 77 others, including 18 children.

On 1 September, the Russian missile attack on a center for social and psychological rehabilitation of children and an orphanage in Sumy injured at least 18 civilians, including 6 children.

On the same day, Russia launched 8 ballistic missiles targeting residential buildings, the main indoor sports arena, a shopping center and a recreation area in Kharkiv. This series of strikes injured at least 44 people, including 7 children.

The next day, 2 September, a barrage of 35 Russian missiles and 23 UAVs targeted the Kyiv, Sumy and Kharkiv regions. In Kyiv, for instance, Russian missiles damaged the Islamic Cultural Center, including a mosque and a prayer hall.

On 3 September, two Russian ballistic missiles hit an educational institution and a nearby hospital in Poltava, killing 58 and injuring 325 people.

There were casualties from Russian attacks in Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro that day. An 8-year-old boy was among those killed in Zaporizhzhia, where a Russian missile struck a hotel complex.

In Sumy Russia attacked the building of the university with a guided aerial missile.

On 4 September 2024 Russia brought enormous pain and suffering to Lviv. The images of Yaroslav Bazylevych, the injured local resident who in a single moment lost his wife and three daughters after a Russian missile hit their house, have become yet another symbol of the cruelty of Russia’s war as well as a reminder that Russia’s war crimes must not go unpunished.

Yaroslav’s daughters were not the only children killed that day in Lviv as Russian missiles also took the life of an infant. The scale of destruction was also high as in total 156 buildings in Lviv were damaged, including 3 schools and 2 medical institutions.

Seventy-four people were injured, many of them seriously, following the shelling of Pavlohrad, Dnipropetrovsk region, that occurred on 6 September. The next day civilians were killed in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region.

Russia continues to use DPRK ballistic missiles in its attacks against Ukrainian people and our civilian infrastructure.

We are also deeply concerned over the reports on the possible transfer of ballistic missiles by Iran to the Russian Federation. The deepening of military-technical cooperation between Russia and Iran poses serious security threats not only for Ukraine, but for the whole of Europe, the Middle East and the world. We call on the international community to increase pressure on Tehran and Moscow in order to protect international peace and security.

Mr.President,

It is quite evident that the killing of civilians and strikes on critical infrastructure are key elements of Russia's war strategy. Such deliberate cruelty is aimed, among other things, at intimidation—not only of Ukraine, but mostly of our partners – in order to prevent decisions that would allow Ukraine to carry out long-range strikes on Russian territory.

This is the logic of a gangster, which is essentially what Putin is – one should beat a victim with such cruelty that passers-by do not even try to defend them, but rather cross to the other side of the street from fear that the same may happen to them.

However, the world is not a criminal neighborhood in Leningrad, where Putin grew up, and the international community is not a group of intimidated passers-by afraid of a street altercation.

Putin has already shed so much blood that Russia’s attempts to intimidate the world with “red lines” simply do not work. It is clear that peaceful civilians in Ukraine will be protected much better if we shift our aim from the missiles over our heads to their launch sites and places of storage.   

Mr.President,

There are similar motives guiding the Russian military command to give orders to execute Ukrainian prisoners of war. We have regularly drawn attention to this war crime committed by the Russian army.

All indications suggest that we are dealing not with isolated incidents at a low level but with a practice sanctioned by the higher command and endorsed by the political leadership. This is evidenced by the mass nature of such crimes, the demonstrative way in which they are committed, the extensive video documentation accompanied by a real PR campaign and glorification of such acts in the Russian segment of social media, as well as the absence of any, even formal, reaction by Russian law enforcement.

The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine has been investigating at least 28 incidents of summary executions of 73 Ukrainian prisoners of war by the Russian military. Since November 2023, the number of Ukrainian soldiers who have been captured and then executed by the Russians has increased. Most of such incidents are recorded in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.

One of the most recent investigations was launched after footage emerged from near the city of Pokrovsk in Donbas, filmed from a drone in late August. The footage shows Russian troops executing three surrendering Ukrainian soldiers after their trench was overrun.

Other footage, which emerged on Russian social media last week, shows the alleged execution-style killing of a captured and unarmed Ukrainian serviceman by a Russian military. The killer commented on his crime with the propaganda narrative about “our land that we have come to liberate from Nazism.”

These bogus justifications for killing Ukrainians on Ukrainian soil should be borne in mind by the UN Member States every time Russia attempts to monopolize and misuse the common victory over Nazism in the Second World war here in the UN platform while whitewashing its current crimes.

We reiterate that if prisoners of war surrender, visibly indicating their intent, and are unarmed, any summary execution is unequivocally a war crime. The alleged executions constitute war crimes and are seen as part of a broader, orchestrated policy by the Kremlin.

War crimes shall not be subject to any statute of limitations, and Ukraine will persist in seeking justice until all perpetrators are held accountable.

We also reiterate our call for the Security Council to address the appalling practices of execution, ill-treatment, and torture of Ukrainian POWs by Russia.

Mr.President,

On 8 September Russia again resorted to a ritual action, which they call “elections”, exploiting some procedural resemblance to genuine political processes in democratic countries. Once again Russia tried to extend this process to the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine.

The so-called "elections" in the Russian Federation long ago turned into a farce that has nothing to do with the manifestation of people's power, and holding them in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine in violation of the norms and principles of international law actually delegitimizes Russia's political system.

Russian “elections” in the occupied territories are not only aimed at legitimizing the occupying administration but also serve as an instrument of intimidation used to test the loyalty of local residents. Reluctance to participate in this farce may lead to suspicions of disloyalty, accusations of “collaboration with Ukraine”, and subsequent persecution.

In this regard, we reiterate that that results of the so-called "elections" on the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol are null and void, and the "elections" themselves are illegitimate.

We emphasize, that all those involved in the preparation and holding of the so-called "elections" in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine will be held accountable in accordance with the Ukrainian law.

Mr.President,

Ukraine does want to end this war because more than anything, Ukraine wants peace. But Ukraine also wants to save its people as well as its statehood. It is the Russian dictator who does not want peace and is obsessed with territorial conquests. He wants Ukrainian cities, or rather their ruins, as a symbol of his “victory”.

And that is why Ukraine needs the strength and the ability to destroy the Russian means of killing and destruction that are situated far from the Ukrainian cities that are their targets. That is, where they are stationed and at a time when they pose a threat only to those who use them, and not to peaceful Ukrainians.

We need to force Russia to seek peace. A comprehensive, just and lasting peace in line with the principles of the UN Charter, as envisaged by both the UNGA Resolution ES-11/6 and the Ukrainian Peace Formula.

This is the only path to justice: the Ukrainian Peace Formula, respect for the norms of international law and the restoration of Ukraine sovereignty and territorial integrity.

I thank you.