Thank you very much for the opportunity to address the UN Security Council today and let me start by thanking the French Presidency for organizing this debate. Since my intervention in the Security Council last year the human cost of Russia’s war has become even more devastating. Every month thousands of people are killed. Homes, schools, hospitals, energy and water infrastructures are deliberately destroyed in Ukraine. Before the war, Ukraine — the “breadbasket of Europe” — fed 400 million people each year around the world through food exports. Now Russia’s strikes on the port of Odesa have created a food security crisis, fuelling global inflation, with particularly severe consequences for countries across Africa. Russia’s attacks on Ukraine also threaten the security of civilians far beyond Ukraine. It is unacceptable that Russia has been threatening the security of European Union member states, repeatedly in the past 12 months. This is a dangerous escalation. And last but not least, Russia’s revisionist imperial projects have brought death and immense suffering to hundreds of thousands of its own people. And for what? Russia has failed to reach it any of its stated goals in this war. The so-called special operation has failed to occupy Ukraine; has failed to impose regime change in Ukraine; and has failed to weaken the determination and the unity of Europe to stand with Ukraine. The courage of the Ukrainian people has become a symbol across the world for people fighting for their freedom and homeland. Ukraine is defending its cities under constant bombardment. It is protecting its sovereignty and independence in the battlefield. It is time for this war to end. Escalation and spreading of the conflict will be disastrous for the international community. The only way forward is diplomacy and an immediate ceasefire. Peace efforts so far have not produced any breakthrough. But we need to persist. The European Union supports all efforts to stop this war. Conditions for a real peace are well known. It must respect Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and Ukraine’s right to choose its own future. In a nutshell, it must respect the United Nations Charter. And it must provide Ukraine with credible security guarantees to ensure a lasting peace. Today, from this Council, I want to make a call to the entire international community to join the European Union in our efforts to bring this war to an end. For this I ask you to use all your influence on Russia so that by the time of our meeting next year we have finally achieved a just and lasting peace in Ukraine and in Europe. Thank you.
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