We will stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes: UK statement at UN Security Council
Statement by Ambassador Barbara Woodward at the UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine.
Thank you, President. Thank you, USG Di Carlo for your briefing.
It is nearly 500 days since Russia’s illegal and barbaric full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Let us again take stock of its impacts.
Russia’s airstrikes have reduced towns and cities to rubble. More than 9,000 civilians have been killed. Many thousands more have been killed including more than 500 children. Many thousands have been injured. Millions have been displaced, unable to return to their homes. Families have been torn apart, with children taken from their parents and sent to far flung corners of Russia.
Wherever Putin’s government has attempted to take control of Ukraine, it has shown its true colours. A pattern of torture, killings, and brutal repression of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Last week, Russia rejected pleas from the United Nations to assist those in desperate need in the aftermath of the catastrophic destruction of the Kakhovka Dam.
President, this is a war of choice for President Putin. He has shown contempt and disregard for Russia’s obligations under the UN Charter. He is indifferent to the cost to Ukrainians, to Russians, and to the world. He fires missiles at Kyiv even as world leaders visit Moscow, seeking to build peace. He supplies his armies from UN-sanctioned states like Iran and DPRK, further undermining global security. He continues to hold the world’s food to ransom by holding up grain shipments under the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
The World Bank has estimated that Ukraine’s reconstruction needs are over 400 Billion dollars. Russia’s destruction adds more pressure to the global economy, already suffering from conflict, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The world needs peace, but Ukraine will never have peace while Russian forces remain on its territory. So we call on Russia to withdraw its forces from Ukraine and end this illegal war of aggression.
At the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London this week, my Prime Minister paid tribute to Ukraine’s incredible spirit - a spirit of strength and defiance but also of ingenuity and innovation.
We will stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes for them to win a just and sustained peace that respects Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, in line with the UN Charter.
And we’ll also stand with them as they win the peace and rebuild a country shattered by Putin’s aggression.