After 1000 days, Ukraine retains strong support at the Permanent Council: UK statement to the OSCE
Ambassador Holland estimates that the Council will have heard at least 1000 statements in support of Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began, while Russia remains isolated.
Thank you, Mr Chair. It is now over 1000 days since Russia launched its illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It’s a shocking milestone. Over that period this Council has met 140 times, including in Special and Reinforced formats. During these meetings we have surely heard at least 1000 statements in support of Ukraine. Russia has been left isolated and seeking to defend the indefensible.
These statements have recorded how the Russian state has executed its illegal war: massacres in Bucha and Irpin, the siege and destruction of Mariupol and the targeting of the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital. And we should not forget that Russia’s war against Ukraine started long before 24 February 2022. Those responsible will be held accountable, and the UK will stand by Ukraine and the principles that underpin this organisation for as long as it takes.
Mr Chair, yesterday was World Children’s Day, 35 years since the UN General Assembly adopted the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
We have regularly discussed in this Council Russia’s violations of the rights and security of Ukraine’s children. These violations include the forcible transfer and deportation of more than 19,500 children to Russia and the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. The Russian authorities expose these children to a curriculum that rewrites Russian and Ukrainian history and geography, glorifies Russian military actions, and promotes allegiance to Russia - and in some cases involves military training. The indoctrination of Ukrainian children forms part of President Putin’s strategy to erase Ukrainian national identity, dating back to the illegal annexation of Crimea.
As the May 2023 Moscow Mechanism report made clear, Russia’s actions are a clear violation of international law, including the UNCRC. The report includes violations of 14 separate articles of the UNCRC.
On 19 November, the UK announced sanctions against ten perpetrators involved in this illegal Russian state programme. Those sanctioned include the All-Russian Young Army Military Patriotic Social Movement and Tetiana Zavalska, the Russian-appointed Head of Kherson Children’s Home, where 46 children were forcibly taken from the children’s home to Russia for adoption. As my Foreign Secretary has said, “No child should ever be used as a pawn in war”.
Lastly, Mr Chair, I strongly condemn the latest waves of Russian strikes across Ukraine. On Monday a Russian missile hit a residential building in Odesa, killing 10 people and injuring 47. On 17 November Russia launched a massive attack against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which involved more than 200 missiles and drones. The Russian authorities know that these strikes, at this time of year, after the damage they have already caused to Ukraine’s grid, are going to cause immense civilian suffering and pose a serious risk to nuclear safety.
The world will not forget this calculated cruelty, which we will continue to record in statements to this Council for posterity. Thank you.