Deputy FM Betsa Reminds Diplomats about Russia’s War vs Ukraine 

Strong support for Ukraine, sanctions, and undermining Russian ability to wage war against Ukraine are needed to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, according to Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Mariana Betsa.

Addressing a plenary meeting of the United Nations General Assembly under the agenda item “Situation in the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine” earlier this week, Betsa said Kyiv is striving to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace which is contrary to Russian goals.

She said, “Russia seeks not peace, but the capitulation of Ukraine. Round-the-clock drone attacks, the constant threat of ballistic strikes, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and nuclear blackmail are part of a deliberate policy of terror and intimidation.”

Moscow persists with its acts of terror even on September 1, the first day of school for children, thus endangering the lives of youngsters on their way to school, the official said.

In her address, Deputy Minister Betsa also emphasized the following:

•Russian aggression has been ongoing for over 12 years - from the illegal occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea in 2014 to the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. Moscow does not hide its goal: to destroy Ukrainian statehood, sovereignty, and the right of Ukrainians to independently determine their future.

•In the temporarily occupied territories, Russia systematically attempts to erase Ukrainian identity, language, and culture, persecutes citizens for their pro-Ukrainian stance, and carries out arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, and politically motivated prosecutions.

•Ukraine calls on UN Member-States not to recognize the illegal elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation that Moscow plans to hold in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, and not to send observers to them.

•About 1.6 million Ukrainian children remain in territories under Russian occupation or control. Over 20,000 cases of illegal deportation and forced transfer of children have been documented, while only 2,495 children have managed to be returned.

•Russia systematically carries out the indoctrination, militarization, and forced assimilation of Ukrainian children. Ukrainian curricula are being replaced by Russian ones, the Ukrainian language and history are being displaced, and education is being turned into an instrument of occupation.

•Russian attacks on Ukrainian port and agricultural infrastructure directly threaten global food security. More than 1,050 port infrastructure facilities have been damaged and over 240 civilian vessels attacked. Russia also systematically steals Ukrainian grain from the occupied territories.

•The situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear PowerPlant remains extremely hazardous. Ukraine demands the immediate withdrawal of Russian military personnel, UAV units, and weaponry from the ZNPP andbEnerhodar, as well as full and unhindered access for the IAEA.

•There can be no true peace without justice, and no true security without accountability. Ukraine calls on UN Member-States to help ensure that the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine becomes a fully operational mechanism.

•This year, Ukraine will submit an updated General Assembly resolution on the situation in the temporarily occupied territories and calls on UN Member-States to strengthen their support for it.

Betsa concluded her address by telling the diplomats that Russia wants the UN and the world to be afraid-afraid of war, afraid of further escalation. In other words, since Russia promotes war and escalation, then Moscow wants all nations to be afraid of it.

“Russia uses fear as a weapon. Ukrainians prove every day that there is no need to be afraid. Russia can be defeated. The best defense is to continue supporting Ukraine and remain united,” she encouraged her colleagues.

While pro-Ukraine speeches at the United Nations have been heard in the past, it is beneficial for the delegates to continue hearing them as long as Russia continues to bomb Ukraine and slaughter Ukrainians.