Ukraine, as a co-founder
of the United Nations, knows why we established this
Organization — for peace and stability. Do we have
this peace and stability? No, and yet our global aim and
global target is to do everything we can to protect our
citizens and to deliver peace to our nations. The global
agenda today consists of a number of things. Everyone
has mentioned the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,
everyone has mentioned Ebola, and everyone has
mentioned Ukraine. Frankly speaking I would be happy
not to be in this situation, but we are a country that
knows what terrorism means, and not in words but in
deeds, in practice.
Let me remind Members of the origin of the conflict
that is evolving in Ukraine. Is it a domestic conflict?
No. It is true that my country has some internal
differences, but every country has differences and we
are ready to handle and tackle those differences inside
our country. The origin of the conflict is an invasion
by the Russian Federation. A permanent member of
the Security Council has violated the United Nations
Charter, which is absolutely and entirely unacceptable
behaviour, especially on the part of a permanent
member of the Council. It would be better for Russia to
be an “insecurity” member rather than a security one.
Twenty years ago, Ukraine abandoned its nuclear
weapons. We possessed the third-biggest arsenal in
the world. When we agreed to relinquish our nuclear
power arsenal in Budapest, Ukraine got guarantees
of territorial integrity and sovereignty. Russia was a
co-signer of and co-contributor to that memorandum.
Instead of security guarantees, 20 years later we
received Russian military boots on Ukrainian soil. It
seems that it is difficult to convince another country
to stop nuclear proliferation. We are committed to our
nuclear non-proliferation programme, but we need
to have valid guarantees of our territorial integrity,
security and independence.
A few months ago, the Russian Federation
annexed Crimea. One country, which is a Member
State of the United Nations and a permanent member
of the Security Council, a country that is armed to the
teeth, just decided to grab the land of its neighbour,
independent Ukraine. Let me commend the efforts of
United Nations Member States that overwhelmingly
supported the resolution supporting Ukraine’s
territorial integrity and condemning the illegal
annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. They
moved further. For today we can state that Russian
troops are deployed in the east of Ukraine. The Russian
Federation violated a number of bilateral and
multilateral international agreements, starting with the
United Nations Charter and ending with the resolutions
on counter-terrorism that were adopted at the United
Nations.
We know what terrorism means, and we urge Russia
to pull back its forces, to pull back its artillery, to stop
supplying Russian-led terrorists, to restore control over
the Ukrainian-Russian border, and to start real talks,
peace talks. We are the country that needs peace. It is
difficult to hammer out any kind of peace deal at the
barrel of a gun made in Russia.
Let me remind members of a tragedy that happened
because of the Russian invasion. A few months ago, a
civilian aircraft, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH-17, was
downed by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile, and
298 innocent civilians were killed. Ukraine mourns the
victims. We pray together with the families from the
Netherlands, Australia, the United Kingdom, Malaysia,
Indonesia, the Philippines and Germany. Ukraine
handed over the investigation to an independent body
which is Dutch-led. We urge everyone to help us to
bring to justice those responsible for this despicable
crime, a crime against humanity.
Every day, despite the ceasefire, we are losing
Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, and the shelling
is still going on. I reiterate once again that we need
peace. What is the formula for this peace? The military
option is definitely not the best option. It has to be a
comprehensive approach which comprises diplomatic,
financial, political and, only at the last, military options.
The United States and the European Union
imposed a number of sanctions against Russia. We do
understand that sanctions are the way to start real talks
and to hammer out a peace deal. We have no trust in
words. We have trust only in deeds and actions. Once
again we reiterate our commitment to restore law and
order. We urge the Russian Federation to stick to its
international obligation to execute everything that was
written in Minsk. This is not a menu where one can
pick the cherry. It means that Russia is to execute all
12 points of this memorandum. We ask our partners not
to lift sanctions until Ukraine takes over 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.
Let me end with a direct message to the Russian
President. Mr. Putin can win the fight against the
troops, but he will never win the fight against a united
Ukrainian nation.