A year ago, I delivered my address at this very place as the President of a country of 38 million people (see A/76/PV.4). Today I stand at this rostrum with the awareness that, according to various statistics, more than 40 million people — and, according to some voices, as many as 41 million people — are living in my country, Poland. The additional 2 or 3 million people are predominantly refugees from Ukraine and are our neighbours. Some of them are our permanent guests, while others travel between Poland and Ukraine. However, there is one thing that they all have in common: they are sheltering in our country from war. They are taking refuge in our country from death and from slavery under the Russian occupation after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The war has been continuing for seven months. The war, provoked by Russian aggression, is a war in which Russia is not limiting itself to fighting the Ukrainian army. Russian troops are killing civilians and forcibly relocating them to their territory. Russia is destroying Ukrainian cities, monuments, schools, kindergartens and hospitals. It destroys agricultural crops and devastates the environment in Ukraine. It destroys literally everything that it cannot seize or loot. Recently, it has been threatening not only Ukraine but the entire world with a nuclear catastrophe by attacking and causing the failure of nuclear power plants, particularly the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.
The decision to wage this horrible war was made in Russia by people prompted by an imperial sentiment and colonial, nationalist Russian hubris, exalting their own people and denying their sovereign neighbours the right to self-determination. They managed to obsess the nation of one of the United Nations founding States with that thought — a nation that had a chance to protest against the insanity of its leaders. Unfortunately, only a few Russian people, the most courageous, stood up against this war. They dared to stand on the side of justice and honesty.
This war, started by Russia in Ukraine, like all other conflicts going on in the world today, must be lost by the aggressor. Let me reiterate that, in this case, it is the Russian State. Moreover, the aggressor has in a sense already lost because it failed to subdue a free nation, break the spirit of the Ukrainian nation and disperse the Ukrainian army. Today it has against it not the Ukrainian State itself, but a nation of many millions of people, the vast majority of whom do not want any negotiations whatsoever with the invader until he withdraws his forces from the occupied lands of Ukraine. It is at odds with a large part of the nations of the world, which have very clearly spoken their minds, including in resolutions adopted here at the United Nations. It has against it my country, Poland, on which — and I say this here and now — Ukraine can always count.
I was one of those politicians who, even before the war, believed that Ukraine would successfully defend itself. Today I am convinced that Ukraine will prevail, that the refugees will return to their homes, that Ukraine will be rebuilt and that its internationally recognized borders will be restored. My country, Poland, joining forces with its allies, will do its utmost to make that happen.
But there are other facets to this war. It has economic repercussions in many areas — a parallel war unleashed by Russia and the war against our common principles and values and against all humankind. I also want to talk about that today because in this Hall I can see representatives of many familiar countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, with whose leaders I spoke just before or during the war. This is not a regional conflict. This war by Russia against Ukraine is fuelling a global fire. This war will bear on our and their countries if that has not already happened.
One of the most dramatic global effects of the Russian aggression is the food crisis and the spectre of famine looming over large parts of the world. I had lengthy discussions on the subject during my recent trip to countries of West Africa — Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal. In all those countries, I spoke with their leaders about food security and the potential impacts of further restrictions on grain and fertilizer exports from Ukraine and Russia. The topic also featured in previous discussions that we had with fellow Presidents from Central and Eastern Europe and with leaders from Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
I also vividly recall a conversation that I had with the Secretary-General, Mr. Antonio Guterres, late at night in Rzeszow when he was on his way to Ukraine to discuss and address food-related problems. I thank the Secretary-General for his energy, commitment, resolve and courage, which was, and is, much needed at this difficult time in order to represent the international community gathered in the largest organization in the world with dignity.
From the very beginning of the invasion, Russia has been deliberately and cynically destroying new crops and farming equipment, and the invasion itself has drastically reduced Ukrainian harvests. The data that we obtained makes it clear: Russia has seized farmland representing 22 per cent of all agricultural land in Ukraine, that is, a fifth of the land that is the breadbasket of many non-European countries. Land that produces nearly 30 per cent of winter crops has suddenly failed to produce any crops this season, or its harvest has been looted. Speaking in this forum, I do not need to recall that Ukraine is one of the most important food producers in the world. It is the breadbasket not only of Europe, but also the world.
Conservative estimates indicate that this year alone Ukraine’s harvest will be 35 per cent smaller in the aftermath of war, and I emphasize a 35 per cent smaller harvest in Ukraine. More than one third of the breadbasket of large parts of the world has been eliminated by the Russian aggression. Who will suffer from that? It will be those who are most in need. It is an economic weapon; it is the weaponization of food, hitting Africa and the Middle East the hardest. I have been in politics long enough not to be naive in that regard. This is a deliberate policy by Russia. It is estimated that, in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine, the number of people suffering from chronic hunger this year will increase by about 47 million people, again
especially in Africa and the Middle East. It is there that this catastrophe of famine, provoked by Russia as a result of its aggression against Ukraine, will be most visible.
As the international community, we are obliged to prevent anyone in the twenty-first century from knowingly and cynically causing an artificial famine in the name of achieving their political goals, the way in which Stalin did back in the 1930s. In that context, it is of key importance that, on 22 July in Istanbul, Russia and Ukraine signed separate agreements with Turkey and the United Nations. Those documents are aimed at unblocking the sea route through the Black Sea for the export of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain. Once again, I would like to personally acknowledge the significant role played by Secretary-General, Guterres in the conclusion of that accord. That is a great success of the United Nations and the Secretary-General in this extremely difficult situation.
Now we all have to be vigilant about the parties’ compliance with the agreements and their commitments. I am all the more concerned by the increasingly frequent statements from the Russian side undermining the accord, as well as by acts that deserve to be condemned in the strongest terms, such as the shelling of the Odesa seaport by the Russian army, which took place within less than 24 hours of the signing of the documents. As the international community, we must immediately respond to such incidents by imposing further sanctions and providing more aid packages to Ukraine, which is defending itself.
For my part, I would like to affirm that, as a neighbour of Ukraine, Poland, together with its European Union partners, remains steadfastly committed to facilitating Ukrainian grain exports, including by land. We will go to great lengths to make sure that those consignments reach those who are most in need, especially in Africa, Asia, Latin America and everywhere that it is needed, so that people can survive.
Given Russia’s unlawful actions, we should learn a lesson for the future. We should also keep in mind the provisions of international law and the possibility of holding perpetrators accountable.
A number of regulations exist in international law on the protection of food resources and the natural environment during conflicts. Inter alia, one can cite the provisions of article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which recognizes the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger, and by which States pledged to distribute the world’s food supplies equitably.
In addition, the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, of 8 June 1977, in article 54, prohibits, among other things, attacking, destroying, removing or rendering useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs and agricultural areas. In turn, article 55 of the Protocol obliges States to protect the natural environment from damage during hostilities.
That Russia is deliberately destroying Ukraine’s agriculture in breach of international law is probably no great surprise to anyone here. But, in the face of a barbaric war, are international legal regulations a sufficient response to the enormity of the damage to the environment and the world’s food supply? I have strong doubts about that.
In that context, I see the need to develop penalization mechanisms to be able in the future to bring to justice the perpetrators responsible for violating international law. Those who knowingly destroy crops in the breadbasket of the world must know that they will be pursued in order to be prosecuted as long as they live. From this rostrum, I would like to pledge our support for all existing and new initiatives so that those who deprive millions of people of their right to food and destroy the environment will no longer go unpunished. Poland wants to actively participate in that work.
The Russian aggression on Ukraine constitutes no less than aggression against the whole world. Every act of aggression requires a multidimensional international response, with determination and without hesitation. It is necessary to step up pressure on Russia and its accomplice, Aleksandr Lukashenko’s regime in Belarus. The advisability of continuing cooperation with those Governments should be deeply reassessed, including by international organizations. There is no longer room for business as usual with Russia. The time for business as usual has definitely come to an end and was finished by Russia through its bestial aggression against Ukraine, its violations of the principles of international law and a lack of respect for people and human lives.
I say that as a man who visited Kyiv on 23 February and who has been to Ukraine three times since the beginning of the war, right after the Russian
aggression, who saw damaged Borodyanka, near Kyiv, the destroyed houses and the suffering of the civilian population in Ukraine and who saw the repercussions of the brutal Russian aggression and blood on the street where Russian soldiers were shooting families driving in cars fleeing the war. It is hard to imagine that, but I saw it with my own eyes. I saw the enormity of their bestiality, and I know what the Russian aggression in Ukraine means and what it means when President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks about Russian brutality and the deaths of thousands of Ukrainians murdered by the Russians.
I say that here today before Member States during the General Assembly of the United Nations as the leader of a State whose borders have been crossed by almost 6 million Ukrainian refugees since the start of the Russian aggression. Today our children go to school together with Ukrainian children, those Ukrainians who came to us, saving their lives by fleeing,
Our citizens took hundreds of thousands of refugees into their homes. It is perhaps hard for many here to believe that, despite the fact that 6 million Ukrainian refugees came to our country and, according to our estimates, approximately 2 million are currently in Poland, we did not have to build a single refugee camp. There was no such necessity. No one is living in a tent in Poland. Everyone found dignified accommodation in dignified conditions in homes and in places specifically prepared for them — hotels, boarding houses and other temporary locations. There are no tent camps in Poland where people are living, sheltering themselves from war. Everyone found dignified accommodation. Every Polish man and every Polish woman is familiar with the situation in Ukraine. Every Polish man and every Polish woman vividly remembers what Russian occupation means, what Russian invasion of a State means and what Russian terror means — because Polish families lived through that terror after the Second World War, when the Russians occupied Poland, when the country was behind the Iron Curtain, when patriots were trying to shake off the Russian yoke and were fighting and when many people were imprisoned and murdered.
In 1939, right after Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland, the country that invaded the Republic of Poland and destroyed my country, together with Nazi Germany, a Nazi State, on the basis of the Hitler-Stalin Pact, which was entered into on 23 August 1939, was precisely Soviet Russia. It was Soviet Russia that occupied 50 per cent of my country and, at that time, nearly 2 million people were deported to the Far East and the depths of Siberia. Twenty-two thousand Polish officers and policemen were brutally murdered by the Soviets. They were shot down in Katyn, Mednoye, Kharkiv and Tver. We know what Russian terror and Russian occupation mean. That is why Poles went to help Ukrainian refugees without asking questions. Neither the Government nor I, the President of Poland, had to call on them to do that. We did not have to appeal to them. People spontaneously went to the border in order to help and to take Ukrainians fleeing the Russian aggression to their homes. That is the reality — the reality of Central Europe.
We must not forget those who are suffering. Let us remember that six months of Russian aggression in Ukraine has brought about the biggest humanitarian crisis in Europe since the Second World War. I appeal for an increase in aid to the Ukrainian civilian population, whose humanitarian needs are far greater than the funds currently being provided. Winter is approaching, which, exacerbated by the war and energy prices, will be the hardest winter in years. As humankind, we have no right to turn our backs on those most in need. We, the international community, must not show any war fatigue. We must help and support.
We should work together on such a road map for economic and social development to give people hope that the world can be a better and more supportive place in which to live despite being so scarred today by wars, the effects of pandemics and natural disasters. Poland wants to jointly create such a programme, including here at the United Nations — for example, as part of the work of the Economic and Social Council.
Still, I owe a few words of truth to us — the leaders of the rich North, or, as others may like to put it, the West, including Western Europe. It is very positive that we have risen to the challenge on the issue of Ukraine, that we have preserved our unity and rallied to support the victim, not the aggressor, and that Western Europe today can clearly distinguish between who attacked whom. It knows that Russia is the aggressor and that Ukraine is suffering. It is positive that there is a clear distinction.
But let us not become complacent. My recent visit to Africa made me even more aware of something that I myself had previously thought about for a long time. Were we equally resolute during the tragedies of Syria, Libya and Yemen? Did we not return to business as
usual after the two tragedies of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the wars in the Horn of Africa? While condemning the invasion of Ukraine, do we give equal weight to fighting mercenaries who seek to destabilize the Sahel and threaten many other States in Africa?
I think that the lesson learned from this war is the following. If the United Nations is to truly be united, every response to violations of international law should be identical — decisive and principled — because the world is a system of communicating vessels. Today the victim is Ukraine, but, if Russian imperialism succeeds, tomorrow it could be any country in the world and someone else will plunder someone else’s fields. They will turn civilians out of doors and murder them. We must not allow that to happen.
Poland’s position in the face of any war is clear and unambiguous. We demand absolute respect for internationally recognized borders. The inviolability of those borders is a fundamental element of the global order, and that is the precondition for peace in every single case. Today Ukraine is the victim. Tomorrow it may be any one of us unless we respect those iron-clad rules and do not compel that international law be respected.
There is no hiding the fact that Russia owes Ukraine war reparations, which it will have to pay. There is no justice without reparations. That applies to any country plundering another country. It applies today, but it also applies to unsettled issues from the past. I say that as the President of Poland, which was horrifically affected by the Second World War, a large part of it being ruined and destroyed, and which lost 6 million citizens, including 3 million Polish citizens of Jewish origin and nationality.
That is why Poland will not cease its efforts to hold Russia accountable for its violations of international law, both at the State level and individually. This war must be resolved in such a way that the aggressor pays for the losses and damage caused. It will pay for every murdered human being in Ukraine. It will pay for every ruined house and every destroyed school building, plant and hospital. That must happen.
Let us use all our powers and capabilities to ensure that the culprits are tried and punished. We are already cooperating with the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice to find the most effective ways to identify and prosecute the perpetrators.
On many occasions in its history, the free world has faced partition wars, caused by enemies of freedom, driven by sick ambitions or the desire for total domination. From the genocidaires of the most ancient times to Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Pol Pot, the essence of such wars has not changed in any way. It always begins with a cult of strength and a belief in one’s superiority, racial or ideological, over another human being, be it a person of another nationality from another country or sometimes from their own nation and country.
However, people have always pitched themselves against the aggressor and the genocidaire — free people. Aggression stirs in people the will to resist, courage, fortitude, solidarity and the desire to support victims of injustice. We therefore continue to exist as humankind. I think that that is an obligation derived not only from the harsh laws of politics; it lies at the very foundation of human nature, for, as Pericles put it in his famous Athenian funeral oration: “Happiness is the fruit of freedom and freedom the fruit of valour.” A person and nation can pay any price for freedom and fight for it to the very end. People rebel against slavery, colonialism and oppression because it is their nature and law — the inalienable right of everyone to freedom and respect for their human dignity.
For months, Ukraine has been demonstrating almost unbelievable valour to us. Therefore, in conclusion, from this rostrum I appeal to all those present the following. Let us not be indifferent to the heroism and complete determination of the struggle for freedom. Let us never show indifference to any nation that defends itself against tyranny and contempt for humankind, for, by doing so, it always defends all humankind against such tyranny and contempt.
The vision of a world in which only naked and brutal power wins is not only wrong and immoral, but it can also lead to a conflagration, engulfing the entire world. I am convinced that it is no different on this occasion. I say that in the forum of an organization that was formed in the wake of the greatest such conflagration following the Second World War. It was not without reason that in 1945 the leaders of our countries, the founding members of the United Nations, declared their intent to build a world based on dialogue, opposing the use of naked and brutal force. Let us not forget that legacy. Let us not allow any tragedies such as those that the world experienced in the twentieth century happen in the future.