Yatseniuk at 69UNGA: Ukraine Knows Terror at Hands of Russian Invaders

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk devoted his entire address at the 69th UN General Assembly to Russia’s war with Ukraine, saying Ukraine, a founding member of the United Nations and ardent supporter of its principles, knows well what terrorism means.

“Let me remind you the origin of the conflict that evolves in Ukraine. Is it a domestic conflict? No. That’s true that my country has differences. But every country has differences. And we are ready to handle and to tackle these differences inside of the country. But the thing is that the origin of the conflict is an invasion that was made by the Russian Federation,” Yatseniuk said on the second day of the General Debate on Wednesday, September 24.

Yatseniuk’s address continued with the avalanche of evidence about Ukraine’s latest war of independence against Russian aggression that has been brought to the attention of global leaders in the UN and beyond. Within 10 minutes the Ukrainian prime minister, just like President Poroshenko did several days earlier in Ottawa and Washington, DC, succinctly accused Russia – not an anonymous invader – of being a contemporary terrorist state with aggressive designs against Ukraine – proof that was never presented at such a forum by a leader of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian prime minister said Russia’s behavior in completely incompatible with that of a P5 member state – one that is a permanent member of the Security Council.

“It’s better for Russia to be an ‘insecurity’ member rather than security one,” he said mockingly.

After agreeing to abandon its nuclear program two decades ago, Ukraine, with the third largest nuclear arsenal at the time, expected that its independence and territorial integrity would be guaranteed by the leading global powers, he said.

“And Russia was a co-signer and co-contributor of this memorandum. Instead of security guarantees in 20 years we received Russian military boots on Ukrainian soil,” Yatseniuk recalled. “We are committed to our nuclear non-proliferation program, but we need to get guarantees of our territorial integrity and security and independence.”

Yatseniuk thanked the UN member states that overwhelmingly supported the resolution that supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity and condemned the illegal annexation of Crimea by the RF. He pointed out that Russia, armed to the teeth, did not stop with its decision to annex Ukrainian Crimea and soon after it invaded eastern Ukraine.

He said: “The Russian Federation violated a number of bilateral and multilateral international agreements – starting with the UN Charter, and ending with the resolutions on counterterrorism that were passed by the UN.

“So we know what terrorism means. And we urge Russia to pull back its forces, to bull back its artillery, to stop to supply Russian-led terrorists, to restore the control over Ukrainian-Russian border, and to start real talks, peace talks.

“We are the country that needs peace. And it’s difficult to hammer out any kind of peace deal at a barrel of a gun made in Russia.”

Yatseniuk said declarations of truce have not been successful because Ukrainian soldiers and civilians continued to be killed by Russsian soldiers or mercenaries.

“I would reiterate once again – we need peace. What is the formula of this peace? The military option is definitely not the best one. So it is to be a comprehensive approach which comprises diplomatic, financial, political, and only at last – military options,” he said specifically not ruling out the last option of a military solution.

Yatseniuk noted that sanctions against Russia can force real talks that can “hammer out a peace deal.” He said Kyiv no longer trusts words – “we trust only in deeds and actions.”

“We ask our partners not to lift sanctions until Ukraine takes over the control of its entire territory – starting with the East of Ukraine, and ending with Crimea. Crimea was, is, and will be a part of Ukraine,”

Echoing Scotland’s William Wallace’s heroic warning to British invaders in “Braveheart” – “They may take our lives but they’ll never take our freedom!” – Yatseniuk targeted his conclusion directly at Putin by coldly cautioning: “Mr. Putin, you can win a fight against the troops. But you will never win the fight against nation, united Ukrainian nation.”