STATEMENT

at the High-Level Open Debate of the UN Security Council on 

“Leadership for Peace: United in respect of the UN Charter, in search of a Secure Future”

delivered by Deputy Permanent Representative of Ukraine 

Khrystyna Hayovyshyn

(25 September 2024)

Mr. President,

I would like to thank Slovenia for convening this debate and express appreciation over your presidency as an example of leadership for peace.

We are at the point when the threats of escalation in different conflicts are growing.

It is alarming that we are mostly following the trend of escalation rather than managing de-escalation. For instance, not a single decision has been adopted by the Council since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began.

This is not surprising. Because for the first time in the UN history, the country holding a permanent seat tries to annex the sovereign territory of another Member State.

Moreover, even the decisions the Council has adopted regarding other situations remain unimplemented. For instance, this is the case with Resolution 2735, which proposes a comprehensive ceasefire to end the conflict in Gaza.

It speaks volumes that the only hand not raised in favor of that resolution was the hand of the Russian envoy. Russia’s policy remains consistent: killing Ukrainians with one hand and impeding peace in the Middle East and other places in the world with the other.

That is why the real leadership for peace requires that we are ready to identify the problem, address it, and have enough courage and determination to solve it. Our problem, the Council’s problem, and the global problem is Russian Federation.

Russian violations and aggression have become a rallying point for a new Axis of today’s dictatorships. With each Iranian or DPRK missile, striking residential areas in Ukraine, rogue states around the globe are getting a taste and realize their capacities for global actions.

Especially when their agent in the Security Council helps them to dismantle UN monitoring and sanction regimes, as Russia did in March, when vetoed the mandate of the Panel of experts on the DPRK.

And this could hardly be called a geopolitical competition. While geopolitical competition certainly exists – in our century it is rather about promotion of ideas, visions of future, economies, you name it.

And definitely, it is not about primitive Middle Ages-style behavior to expand one’s domain at the expense of neighbors.

Therefore, it is not appropriate and impossible to seek consensus with an aggressor and to keep it as a part of the decision-making process.

Let us not forget that the UN itself was founded on the ashes of an uncompromised fight against the than aggressors, and not through compromise with them.

The Council should exercise its leadership in maintaining international peace and security. This includes, inter alia, implementation of the Article 27.3 of the UN Charter. Unfortunately, it was not the case before the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

We will only succeed if accountability is ensured and a violator is enforced to return to the tenets of international law.

This is essential for ensuring comprehensive, just and lasting peace, based on the principles of the UN Charter – the core of the Ukrainian Peace Formula – and joining its implementation is also a demonstration of leadership for peace.

I thank you.