Statement by Ambassador Sergíy Kyslytsya Permanent Representative of Ukraine at the UN Security Council meeting on “Maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine”

(7 June 2024)

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

I also recognize here the dictator’s envoy in the permanent seat of the Soviet Union.

We have already drawn the Council’s attention to the fact that failure to subordinate Ukraine in a “short victorious war” has prompted Russia to retaliate with the strategy of annihilation. 

What we register now is Russia’s deliberate attempt to fully destroy those Ukrainian territories that are within the reach of Russian artillery and guided aerial bombs.

Among many other Ukrainian territories it is the very case of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, and important scientific, economic, and industrial center. Ten years ago, Russia tried to enact in Kharkiv a scenario proclaiming a "people's republic," similar to those Russia used in the Ukrainian cities of Donetsk and Luhansk. 

To this end, buses with Russian “tourists” arrived en masse in Kharkiv from the neighboring Russian region of Belgorod. Assigned the role of "local protesters", they were supposed to serve as a driving force for dismembering Kharkiv from the rest of Ukraine. These attempts were repelled by both the Ukrainian authorities and local residents, and the conflict that Russia was able to incite in Donbas was prevented in Kharkiv.

Apparently, this has triggered a deep grudge towards the city and its residents in both the Russian leadership and propagandists. At the Security Council meeting of April 11, we cited from their publicly proclaimed plans to “wipe Kharkiv off the face of the Earth”.

Now Russia attempts to translate these calls into action. Its close proximity to the border - just 30 kilometers – exposes the city not only to long-range missile and drone strikes, but to guided aerial bombs, as well as ballistic S-300 missiles, Iskander missiles and their North Korean analogue KN-23 supplied to Russia by Pyongyang.

In just the past three weeks, Kharkiv has endured three major terrorist attacks by Russia. On May 23rd, Russian troops hit Kharkiv and the nearby town of Lyubotyn with a barrage of at least 15 simultaneous S-300 missiles. As usual, the strike targeted civilian facilities, including one of the largest printing plants in Europe "Faktor-Druk". 

There were no military facilities inside or nearby the printing plant. The Russian attack killed 7 civilians, including 5 women, and wounded another 21. All of them were employees of the plant.   

On May 25, Russian troops launched aerial bombs on “Epicentre,” a large construction store in Kharkiv. There were no military facilities inside or nearby the shopping mall. This attack killed 19 civilians, including a 12-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy, and wounded another 54. 

The construction store was not the only target for the Russian terrorists that day, as they also hit with an S-300 missile a densely-populated area in the city center. The explosion wounded 18 people, including a 14-year-old boy.

On May 31, Russia launched an attack on Kharkiv with 5 missiles, one of which hit a multi-story residential building. This time nine people were killed and 26 others injured, including an 11-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl. A patrol police officer and a paramedic were also among the victims as Russia again resorted to the double strike tactic, targeting first responders. 

In May Russian forces carried out 76 airstrikes against Kharkiv, three times more than in April. The air raid alerts in the city in May lasted for 474 hours and 55 minutes. That is 15 hours per day. Just imagine - fifteen out of 24. Every day and every night.

That is what Russia is doing to Kharkiv.  The world saw a similar strategy by the Russian forces in Aleppo in 2016 to depopulate that anti-Asad stronghold. 

In Ukraine, the Russian strategy of depopulation is not limited to Kharkiv. They are eager to expand it to the whole of Ukraine. The regular massive missile strikes aimed at Ukraine's critical infrastructure serve this purpose. Since the beginning of this month, Russia carried out several massive missile and drone strikes. The heaviest took place on June 1 when Russia launched 53 missiles of various types and 47 UAVs. Most of them, notably 35 missiles and 46 drones were shot down, but those that circumvented our air defence contributed to further destruction of the critical infrastructure of Ukraine, mostly energy facilities. Last night Russia again shelled Ukraine with missiles and drones.

As of now, all Ukrainian thermal power plants have been damaged or destroyed, now their share in electricity production has decreased to 5%. Hydroelectric power stations have also suffered losses, with two HPPs completely out of order. Russia specifically targets facilities, aimed to balance peak energy consumption in the morning and evening hours. More than 8 GW of generating capacity have been destroyed, which constitutes about 40% of the total available capacity in the system.

The Dnipro Hydroelectric Power Plant, Ukraine's largest HPP in Zaporizhzhia, is in a critical condition following the June 1st strike. By hitting hydro-engineering structures of the Dnipro HPP and its dam, Russia is provoking a new ecological disaster. 

It is similar to what Russia did a year ago, on June 6, blowing up the dam of the Kakhovka HPP. The Office of Prosecutor-General of Ukraine issued a notice of suspicion to Colonel General of the Russian Army Oleg Makarevich who, as a commander of the Russian “Dnepr” group of troops, gave the order to blow up the Kakhovka dam. 

This order killed at least 35 civilian residents, while 24 others were reported missing. Sixty-six settlements in the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions were flooded, along with large areas of agricultural, nature reserve, and forest lands.  

Mr.President,

Russian attacks continue to cause numerous casualties, including children and pregnant women. For instance, on June 4, a 12-year-old boy and a 1-month-old baby were injured in an attack on Dnipro city. The day before, a 12-year-old boy was killed in the Donetsk region, and nine children were injured in the Kharkiv and Dnipro regions. Education and health facilities were also reportedly damaged in the Kherson region during recent attacks.

Furthermore, Russia persists in committing crimes of deportation and forced displacement of Ukrainian minors. It continues its policy of "re-education" and militarization of Ukrainian children in temporarily occupied territories such as Crimea, where military-sports facilities are used to train schoolchildren in warfare. This is a blatant violation of international humanitarian law and a grave violation according to the CAAC mandate regarding the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict, which requires particular attention.

All these actions further demonstrate Russia's ongoing blatant disregard for international humanitarian law and human rights law. They confirm that Russia has not implemented any measures to cease its crimes against Ukrainian children. Therefore, it is imperative that the Russian armed forces and their affiliated armed groups remain on the list of the Secretary-General’s annual report on children and armed conflict.

Mr.President,

Russia kills Ukrainians as it simply wants to wipe Ukrainian statehood and the Ukrainian nation off the face of the Earth. Is it right to call such desire a “Ukrainian crisis”? 

Ukraine, its people, its environment and infrastructure, suffer the most from this war of aggression as a result of the Russian crisis. Nevertheless, for more than two years we keep hearing in this Chamber, at least seven times in just one statement today. – “Ukrainian crisis”, “Ukrainian crisis”… – instead of referring to international armed conflict. 

ASG Ms. Msuya has called on us this morning to respect international humanitarian law.

Let me remind you that international humanitarian law distinguishes two types of armed conflicts, namely: international armed conflicts, opposing two or more States, and non-international armed conflicts, between governmental forces and non-governmental armed groups, or between such groups only. 

Enough with euphemisms that only serve to hide the responsibility of the aggressor!

The Security Council is the major intergovernmental UN body empowered to maintain international peace and security. It is not a workshop of experts, journalists or public at large to compete in inventing new language. Perhaps, with the exception of those meetings that Russia calls to bring to the Chamber eccentrics and other odd personalities. 

We therefore call for the use of proper language regarding the international armed conflict, stemming from the Russian armed aggression against Ukraine. This aggression has emerged as the territory known as the Russian Federation suffers from a perpetual crisis. Crisis of democracy, crisis of the rule of law, crisis of respect for its own citizens and other states, first of all neighbors.

This war will not die down along the current lines, because there are no lines for evil – neither 80 years ago, nor now. As my President stated today in France, “if someone tries to draw temporary lines, it will only give a pause before a new war. It is the same now as it was when evil was unleashing its aggression against its neighbors in the 1930s. Hitler crossed line after line. Putin is doing the same.”

Therefore, if you wish to address to what is going on in Russia and what is being planned by Russia you can refer to the Russian crisis and take the necessary steps to address many imminent threats and challenges that this Russian crisis poses to the world. 

The UN General Assembly was very clear in its six resolutions, adopted at the 11th Emergency Special Session, regarding what is happening, notably the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Let's respect international law and let's respect its definitions. Let's respect the GA resolutions, including the ES-11/6 of 23 February 2023 that clearly envisages what should be the basis of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine – sovereignty, territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders and accountability. All these have been among the elements of the Ukraine Peace Formula, presented by the President of Ukraine even before the adoption of the resolution.

To contribute to the vision of peace, based on the UN Charter, we invite all peace-loving nations to the inaugural Peace Summit, scheduled for 15-16 June in Switzerland, as each nation can really bring peace closer. 

The restoration of the rules-based international order can be achieved only if all peace-loving states of the world unite their efforts. Ukraine needs a strong voice from all continents in favor of a just peace – and the participation in the Peace Summit in Switzerland will give a platform to demonstrate a clear commitment of the international community to the appropriate principles and values.

The success of the Summit and global presence of this event will be a clear signal that the world does not support the war and wants peace. The Summit is aimed to give a platform to discuss various ideas to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace and to give a high-level political start to prepare a joint peace framework, which should restore peace for Ukraine, for Europe and for the world.

I thank you, Mr. President.

Credit

UN Photo/Manuel Elías