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Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Mariana Betsa addressed the plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly under the agenda item “The Situation in the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine.”
At the outset of her remarks, Mariana Betsa stressed that on September 1, the first day of the new school year, Ukraine once again woke up to a Russian attack involving ballistic missiles and drones. Among those killed was also a citizen of India, once again demonstrating that the consequences of Russia’s aggression extend far beyond Ukraine.
In her address, the Deputy Minister highlighted:
• Ukraine seeks a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and international law. We support diplomatic efforts aimed at restoring such a peace and are grateful to all states and organizations that continue to pursue political and diplomatic efforts to achieve this goal. The immediate priority must be an immediate ceasefire.
• Russia is seeking not peace, but Ukraine’s capitulation. Round-the-clock drone attacks, the constant threat of ballistic strikes, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and nuclear blackmail are all part of a deliberate policy of terror and intimidation.
• Russia’s aggression has been ongoing for more than 12 years – from the illegal occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea in 2014 to the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. Moscow makes no secret of its objective: to destroy Ukrainian statehood, sovereignty, and the right of Ukrainians to determine their own future.
• In the temporarily occupied territories, Russia is systematically seeking to erase Ukrainian identity, language and culture; persecuting people for their pro-Ukrainian position; and carrying out arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances and politically motivated persecution.
• Ukraine calls on UN Member States not to recognize the illegal elections to the Russian State Duma that Moscow plans to hold in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and not to send observers to these elections.
• Approximately 1.6 million Ukrainian children remain in territories under Russian occupation or control. More than 20,000 cases of the illegal deportation and forcible transfer of children have been documented, while only 2,495 children have been returned.
• Russia is systematically subjecting Ukrainian children to indoctrination, militarization and forced assimilation. Ukrainian educational programs are being replaced with Russian ones, while the Ukrainian language and history are being pushed out and education is being turned into an instrument of occupation.
• Russian attacks on Ukraine’s port and agricultural infrastructure pose a direct threat to global food security. More than 1,050 port infrastructure facilities have been damaged and more than 240 civilian vessels have come under attack. Russia is also systematically stealing Ukrainian grain from the occupied territories.
• The situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant remains extremely dangerous. Ukraine calls for the immediate withdrawal of Russian military personnel, UAV units and weapons from the Zaporizhzhia NPP and Enerhodar, as well as full and unhindered access for the IAEA.
• There can be no genuine peace without justice, and no genuine security without accountability. Ukraine calls on UN Member States to contribute to ensuring that the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine becomes a fully operational mechanism.
• This year, Ukraine will present an updated UN General Assembly resolution on the situation in the temporarily occupied territories and calls on UN Member States to strengthen their support for it.