UN Security Council Briefing on the Maintenance of Peace and Security of Ukraine

I thank you for giving me the floor, Madam President and congratulate you on assuming the Presidency of the Council for the month of May. I also take this opportunity to thank Ambassador Barbara Woodward and the UK delegation for the leadership of the Council last month. We have paid close attention to the important briefings by USG Martin Griffiths, and Ms. Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and thank them for the coordination of United Nations’ efforts in Ukraine. We also thank Ms. Tetiana Luzan from Right to Protection for highlighting the work of her organization in the area of protection assistance.
 
Madam President,
It is the ordinary people of Ukraine who continue to bear the brunt of the war, with women, children and the aged being disproportionately affected. Urgent action is therefore imperative to stem the rising humanitarian crises and restore the hope of peace which has so far eluded the people of Ukraine.
 
We therefore welcome the important undertakings of the Secretary-General during his recent visit to Moscow and Kyiv where he held discussions with President Putin and President Zelensky, personally assessed the impact of the war and helped to mobilize humanitarian evacuations in Mariupol. We encourage the continued deployment of the good offices of the Secretary-General in the international endeavour to bring an end to the war and facilitate a diplomatic solution to the on-going security and humanitarian crises in Ukraine.
 
We commend the facilitative role played by United Nations and the International Red Cross in the coordinated evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal steel plant on 3rd May, 2022.
We, however, regret the resumption of heavy shelling and airstrikes aimed at the steel plant before all the people could be removed to safety. Intense efforts must be made to secure the immediate evacuation of close to 1000 people, including an estimated number of 30 children still holed up in the underground tunnels of the steel plant with little access to food, water and medical assistance.
 
We urge the parties to negotiate further humanitarian pauses and demilitarized humanitarian corridors in all besieged areas to help protect the lives of civilians and ensure unobstructed
delivery of humanitarian aid to alleviate suffering. We note the set obligation of the parties to conduct themselves in accordance with the rules of international law and international humanitarian law and reiterate our call on them to implement necessary measures to protect civilians and humanitarian workers from harm while also avoiding the deliberate destruction of civilian and critical infrastructure, including in Lviv, Kharkiv, Odessa and the Donbas region where intense fighting continues.
 
We continue to be concerned by the growing reports of gross human rights violations and possible war crimes, involving summary killings, forced disappearances, human trafficking and conflict-related sexual violence and re-iterate the necessity of an independent, impartial and thorough investigations to ensure effective accountability and secure justice for the innocent victims of the war. We welcome in this regard, the investigations opened into all cases of alleged atrocities.
 
Madam President,
Beyond the destruction and humanitarian crises in Ukraine, the impact of the war is already being felt on the food, energy and financial systems of the world. The disruptions in food supply chains and the high cost of energy have caused historical rises in cost of living globally. The stifling economic effects along with the existing difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic have the potential to fester socio-political tensions and instability, especially in developing economies that have little fiscal space to contain the shocks.
Ending the war in Ukraine now is therefore not only urgent to avoid a direct humanitarian crisis for the Ukrainian people but also critical to abate a global meltdown which would linger and have deep adverse impacts on the global economy, the security architecture and the multilateral order.
 
Furthermore, we are concerned that the avowed commitments of the parties to engage in negotiations has so far not yielded the desired results due to growing mistrust and widening differences in expectations. We encourage the parties to recommit to the objectives of peace and the settlement of the dispute. The International community and Security Council, in particular, must, in this context, overcome inherent challenges to facilitate a constructive dialogue, first; to support the immediate and unconditional cessation of hostilities and second; to provide a forum within which the core geopolitical and security concerns of the Russian Federation, Ukraine and NATO and its allied countries can be sustainably addressed.
 
In closing, Madam President, we call on the Members of this Council to find common purpose in working to restore and maintain peace and security in Ukraine.
 
I thank you.