Thank you, Madame Chair. It is now 29 days since Ukraine expressed its readiness to accept a full, unconditional and immediate 30-day ceasefire. If Russia reciprocated, we would be a huge step closer to ending this terrible war. They are yet to take this step.
Instead of showing a commitment to peace, President Putin has chosen to dither, delay and destroy. We have heard desperate and false accusations about the legitimacy of Ukraine’s democratically-elected President. This week the Kremlin said there remained questions “hanging in the air”, including what they say is Ukraine’s lack of control over those defending their homeland and its so-called militarisation. These accusations come from a government that has deployed North Korean troops to the front line and has just ordered the biggest conscription since the war began. They are absurd.
While the Russian state delays a ceasefire, it continues to terrorise Ukraine’s civilian population with indiscriminate aerial attacks. Earlier this week we met to condemn Russia’s awful missile attack on Kryvyi Rih, which claimed the lives of 20 people, including nine children, on 4 April. This attack came only a day after a further five civilians were killed by Russian drone strikes in Kharkiv and was followed by further civilian casualties during aerial attacks over the weekend. Since Ukraine committed to pursue a full ceasefire, Russia’s aerial attacks have increased.
Russia claims to have been respecting an energy ceasefire since 18 March, but it continues to launch attacks which result in damage to energy infrastructure, including two in the last week which left 50,000 people without power. Even when it appeared that Russia had agreed to the proposed Black Sea ceasefire, it immediately backtracked, imposing new and unwarranted conditions. And yet Russia has the cheek to accuse Ukraine of not being serious about peace.
Killing civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure is not the behaviour of a state genuinely willing to pursue meaningful peace talks. These attacks on the people of Ukraine, including its children and most vulnerable citizens, demonstrate the Russian Government’s true intentions. Their words of peace are so far hollow. We urge the Russian government to commit to peace, end the barbaric attacks on Ukraine’s civilians, and finally demonstrate the sincerity of its words.
Thank you, Madame Chair.
