Ukraine, 2014

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.