Statement by Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN Mr. Sergiy Kyslytsya at the UN Security Council meeting on“Maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine”

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

I thank Under Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo for her briefing. I’m sure it’s difficult if not painful to deliver such a tragic account of the situation on the ground.

I’m also profoundly thankful to our friend and colleague, US Permanent Representative, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, for sharing with us her personal experience of meeting some of the victims of the russian war crimes in Ukraine.

We believe every member of this Council ought to visit Ukraine. You are all welcome. All but russia. Russia must immediately leave Ukraine and stop this carnage, and stop making a cannon fodder of its own people.

I also recognize here the representative of the terrorist russian regime in the permanent seat of the Soviet Union.

What a mockery of peace efforts that terrorists are still at the table on an equalfooting with 14 members of the Security Council. One day after the gravest attack on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. While temperatures in Ukraine start dropping below freezing these terrorists aim to deprive Ukrainians of electricity, water and heating.

More than 90 missiles targeted energy facilities and other civilian infrastructure in atleast 11 regions of Ukraine. As a result, about ten million Ukrainians throughout thecountry were affected by emergency blackouts.

Ukraine expresses its solidarity with brotherly Polish people following yesterday’stragedy in the village of Przewodów, where two people were killed by missiles. Wesupport a full and transparent investigation to establish all the facts of this tragicincident and we are ready to cooperate with the Polish side to contribute to this investigation. At the same time, it is clear that the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine withregular missile terror as one of its core elements, remains the only root cause ofviolence and human suffering in Ukraine and beyond.

As soon as russia is unable tocontinue its war, security in the region will immediately be restored. Now Ukraine defends itself from barbaric attacks by russia that aim to deprive millions of people of access to their basic needs and thus creating a humanitarian disaster that could spill over far beyond my country. We are grateful for the supportof our friends, in particular Poland, in countering these attacks and bringing peaceand security back to our regionю

Mr.President,

Russia commits its nasty attacks against civilians because it is the only kind ofrevenge it can take for its regular military and diplomatic defeats.Last week Ukraine restored its sovereignty over 4.5 thousand square km in Kherson and Mykolaiv region.

Russian forces were kicked out of the only regional center they had been able to occupy since the beginning of the invasion. You might have seen the touching pictures of how the local people, who spent 8 months under occupation and endured heavy suffering at the hands of the russians, greeted their liberators on the streets of Kherson and other de-occupied settlements. Eight months ago, when the russian occupying forces entered Kherson, its residents were on the streets as well.

The atmosphere was totally different but there were some similarities with the joyful rallies in November.

The Russian occupiers were also metwith Ukrainian flags, the Ukrainian anthem and the slogan “Kherson is Ukraine”.It is a matter of sadness that many did not live to see de-occupation. Fleeing from theright bank of the Dnipro River the russian army left behind traces of the same atrocities that it committed in other regions.

Investigators have already documented more than 400 russian war crimes and the bodies of both civilians and military personnel have been found.

There is nothing for Russian diplomacy to boast about either. Perhaps excepting the sprinting skills that putin’s representative regularly develops by promptly fleeing from the Chamber.

Russian diplomacy did not and could not find any credible argument in response tothe adoption by the General Assembly of the Resolution for Furtherance of Remedyand Reparation for Aggression against Ukraine. We welcome this adoption which is aclear message of hope for justice and an important first step towards accountability.

Mr.President,

Recently we have heard a number of statements from the russian side on negotiations and dialogue. One can hardly comment on the sincerity of these statements against the backdrop of nine dozen missiles shelled on civilian infrastructure. If there is no concrete action to restore peace, it means that Russia simply wants to deceive all of us again. Russia wants to buy time, build up its forces, and then launch another wave of aggression, terror and global destabilization.

We must not allow russia to re-charge. It is time to stop the war before the situation finally spirals in a menacing direction, unpredictable and uncontrolled. President Zelenkyy outlined 10 steps to make this happen in his statement to the G20 or rather G19 Summit. Radiation and nuclear safety should be the first to be ensured.

Russia must immediately withdraw all its militants from the territory of the Zaporizhzhia NPP. The station must be immediately transferred to the control of the IAEA and the Ukrainian personnel.

Second, food security should also be in the focus. Due to the strong participation of the UN, Türkiye and other partners we have been able to improve food security globally. Since July, Ukraine has exported over 10 million tons of foodstuffs by sea.

In order to increase our export by several million tons per month Ukraine proposes to expand the grain export initiative to other ports, in particular, the port of Mykolaivand "Olvia" in the Mykolaiv region.

Ukraine has also launched the “Grain From Ukraine” initiative to support the most vulnerable. The first ship with 27 thousand tons of wheat leaves for Ethiopia. Ukraine can export 45 million tons of foodstuff this year. Any country can join and contribute to ensuring the Ukrainian grain be supplied to those in need. And let a significant partof it be directed to those who suffer the most.

Third is energy security. The russian terror against Ukrainian energy infrastructure aims as well to prevent the export of our electricity to neighbouring countries. While Russia is interested in energy crisis we should all be interested in ending terror. I thank all our partners who have already helped Ukraine with the supply of airdefence and missile defence systems. They work but we need more to ensure full protection from russian terrorists. We are ready to accept a mission of UN experts to the objects of critical energy infrastructure of Ukraine to assess the scale of damage and the needs for restoration, as well as to prevent their further destruction.

The fourth critical step is the release of all prisoners and deportees. Thousands of our people - military and civilians - are in Russian captivity. They are subjected to brutal torture. Russia also continues to hold at least 11 thousand children who have been forcibly deported to Russia. The only viable solution will be the release of prisoners on an "all for all" basis.

Fifth, the principles of the UN Charter must be fully respected. Ukraine will not be ready to compromise its sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.

Sixth, russian troops must be withdrawn from the territory of Ukraine and Ukraine'scontrol over all sections of our state border with russia must be restored. This will result in a real and complete cessation of hostilities.

Seventh, justice should immediately come next. Everywhere, when we liberate ourland, we see one thing - Russia leaves behind torture chambers and mass burials of murdered people. This was the case in Bucha and other cities in the north of the country after their occupation. This was the case in the Kharkiv region. The same we observe now in the Kherson region.

Eighth is the need to immediately protect the environment. Millions of hectares of forest were burned by shelling. Almost two hundred thousand hectares of our land are contaminated with unexploded mines and shells. Dozens of coal mines are flooded. Therefore, at the Climate Change Conference held recently in Egypt, Ukraine proposed to create a platform to assess the environmental damage of war.

The ninth step is to prevent escalation. Ukraine requires effective security assurances which should be an integral element of the post-war security architecture in the Euro-Atlantic space.

These guarantees could be formalized in the Kyiv Security Compact –the draft of this document has been already elaborated by Ukraine. And the final step will be a confirmation of the end of the war. When all the anti-war measures are implemented, when security and justice begin to be restored, a document confirming the end of the war should be signed by the parties.

Mr.President,

It seems that since our meetings in October russia has levelled up in defining itsenemies in this war. Last time as you remember, there were war mosquitos and birds. As we found out recently russia now tries [I quote] “to stop the supreme ruler of hell,whatever name he uses -- Satan, Lucifer, or Iblis.” In this fight russian enemies are backed by Westerners who have [I qoute] “saliva running down their chins from degeneracy.”

Who do you think these quotations belong to? An inebriated person? A narrow-minded fan of Nazi ideas of superior and degenerative nations? In fact, to former Russian president Medvedev, now putin’s deputy in the russian “security council”.

I wonder why the russian delegation refrained from delivering this important update to the Council? Or perhaps we should prepare for another urgent Council meeting assoon as russia finds those who could brief the Council on how to exorcise demons? It would be a logical continuation of both the russian attempts to discredit the Security Council and the process of internal moral degradation of the Kremlin.

Unfortunately, these morbid reflections have led to the deaths of tens of thousands in the bloodiest war in Europe since the Second World war. Russia must be stopped and due to the courage of the Ukrainian army, due to the commitment of the Ukrainian people, due to international solidarity with Ukraine russia will be stopped.

Thank you.