Chair,

I extend my gratitude to the Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom and all co-sponsors for organizing this long-awaited discussion. 

I am particularly thankful to the distinguished briefers: Pablo de Greiff, Nariman Dzhelyal, Maksym Butkevych, and Valerii Horishnii.

I commend the Commission of Inquiry for its unwavering dedication to fulfilling its mandate, even in the face of budgetary constraints. I urge the Security Council to take due note of the Commission’s findings and conclusions and integrate them into the Council’s activities.

The harrowing testimonies from the Ukrainian briefers which we’ve just heard confirm that the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Russia are not isolated incidents, but systematic practices endorsed at all levels of Russian leadership.

All Ukrainians are their targets, be they military or civilians, men or women, children or the elderly. Less than a week ago, on January 8, Russia again demonstrated its adherence to this inhumane modus operandi. Thirteen civilians were killed and 127 were wounded by the aerial bombs that Russia dropped on a crowded street of the city of Zaporizhzhia. As the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reported, this heinous attack caused the highest number of civilian casualties in a single incident in almost two years.

If Russia shows no hesitation in openly committing such blatant murders, we can only imagine the true scale of the crimes against Ukrainians in captivity. 

We regularly draw the Council’s attention to video evidence of Ukrainian soldiers executed after surrendering, as captured by drones. The most recent murder was recorded on January 3 near the village of Vremivka, Volnovakha district, where Russian forces captured two Ukrainian servicemen, executed them at close range, and fired additional shots to ensure their deaths. 

The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine is investigating the execution of 202 Ukrainian POWs. The true number is likely much higher.

A critical issue that remains is Russia’s incommunicado detention of Ukrainian civilians and military personnel, denying access to UN and ICRC representatives. The ungrounded persecution and detention of civilians is a clear violation of IHL, and all such detained civilians must be unconditionally released. 

Ukraine, by contrast, grants unhindered access to its detention facilities, adhering to IHL and demonstrating a commitment to civilized norms.

We urge the UN Security Council and all responsible Member States to demand that Russia cease the torture and ill-treatment of Ukrainian POWs and detainees. Humanitarian and human rights mechanisms must be granted immediate and unrestricted access to ensure humane treatment and safe repatriation. 

I would like to remind you that last October this call was reiterated by participants of the Montreal Ministerial conference on the human dimension of the Peace Formula. 

The repatriation of seriously ill and severely wounded POWs, as mandated by the Geneva Convention, also requires urgent action. While Ukraine has taken all the required steps to establish mixed medical commissions for this purpose, Russia has done nothing, thus demonstrating its disregard for the health and return of its own soldiers.

Russia’s open defiance of international law must end. It is imperative to ensure accountability for Russia’s crimes and justice for the victims.

Dear colleagues,

A strong stance from you here, at the United Nations, is crucial. Those of you who supported our resolutions on the human rights situation in the temporarily occupied territories in 2021-2023, joined the demand to release Nariman Dzhelyal, as this demand was a part of those documents. Each of you contributed to his release, and his presence here stands as powerful evidence of the practical impact our collective efforts at the United Nations have in saving innocent lives.

I urge you to continue backing all relevant initiatives on the UN platform aimed at halting these Russian crimes. As you see, they are not abstract policies; they represent the hopes and lives of real individuals who are now suffering and thus require our action for their protection.

We have previously brought to the Council's attention how Russian recruits train to operate attacking drones by targeting and killing innocent civilians in the streets of the city of Kherson. 

In Russian schools, war criminals are holding lessons for Russian children, encouraging them to learn how to kill Ukrainians. 

It comes as no surprise that the Russian Foreign Ministry is following this trend, training its diplomats across the globe, including here – in New York, to disseminate lies and maintain smear campaigns. 

Producing fakes about Azov Brigade has been among the main tools of Russian propaganda since 2014.

The full-scale war has ultimately revealed the truth. Soldiers of the Azov Brigade were among the courageous defenders of Mariupol in 2022, staying in the besieged city and protecting its residents, who Russia killed on an industrial scale, until the very end. 

Russia in turn, has fully adopted the practices of the Third Reich – ranging from the annexation of sovereign territories and the razing of Ukrainian cities to the ground, to the deliberate execution of Ukrainian POWs and civilians. 

That’s why, if Russian diplomats are truly eager to combat neo-Nazism, they might start by calling the Russian Ministry of Defense. They may ask, for instance, about the "Rusich" unit, which operates as part of the Russian army. Its members openly embrace their neo-Nazi views and their commander Milchakov openly declares, "I'm a Nazi, I speak about it directly. [I] can even raise a hand [in Nazi greeting.]" 

His subordinates are just like their commander. They could play with a severed head of a prisoner, boasting about it in interviews, or post ads on social media seeking a "Crimean Tatar for ritual sacrifice" and then brag about carrying out such a ritual. 

This is just one of many examples illustrating how war crimes and crimes against humanity have become standard practice for the Russian army.

The responsibility for this is inevitable, and I urge the Russian mission, both its leadership and junior diplomats, to keep this in mind.

Thank you.