Source: United Nations MIL OSI b
‘We Cannot Have the Aggressor Impose a Deal on the Victim,’ Stresses Special Envoy
“It is high time for peace in Ukraine,” a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today, as Member States echoed that call and outlined contrasting visions of ending the three-year conflict.
“For three long years, the people of Ukraine have endured relentless death, destruction and displacement,” said Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, adding that the resolution the Council adopted earlier on 24 February urges a swift end to the conflict. The Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) has verified that, since 24 February 2022, at least 12,654 Ukrainian civilians — including 673 children — have been killed and 29,392 — including 1,865 children — have been injured.
The war has created the largest displacement crisis in Europe since the Second World War, she observed, adding that over 10 million Ukrainians remain uprooted — 3.6 million displaced within Ukraine and 6.9 million seeking refuge abroad. Furthermore, the massive destruction of civilian infrastructure impacts millions. For three consecutive winters, repeated strikes on the energy grid have left communities without power, heating or other essential services. At least 790 attacks have damaged or destroyed medical facilities, putting the lives of countless patients at risk. In 2024 alone, attacks on medical facilities tripled compared to 2023. The education system has also been decimated, preventing 600,000 children from attending in-person classes.
Over the past three years, the conflict has expanded into parts of the Russian Federation, she said, pointing to reports of increased civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure in the Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk regions due to alleged Ukrainian attacks. The war’s impact is also felt globally, destabilizing economies, disrupting food security and threatening international peace. The further internationalization of the conflict is deeply alarming, particularly with the reported deployment of troops from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea into the conflict zone. Moreover, she cautioned that the risk of a nuclear incident remains “unacceptably high”.
Detailing the systematic and widespread use of torture — including sexual violence — by Russian Federation authorities against Ukrainian prisoners of war, as documented by OHCHR, she said 95 per cent of them and three quarters of Ukrainian civilian detainees interviewed have suffered torture or ill-treatment in captivity. Additionally, at least 71 Ukrainian prisoners were executed since February 2022, with an alarming spike in executions since August 2024. Meanwhile, about half of the 469 Russian Federation’s prisoners of war interviewed by OHCHR described torture and ill-treatment, and 26 of those interviewed reported having been subjected to sexual violence. The human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine has also verified the execution of 26 Russian Federation prisoners of war. “These crimes must not go unpunished,” she asserted, underscoring that “accountability is not optional — it is an obligation under international law”.
“We recognize it will be challenging to get an agreement, but the time for Moscow to make difficult choices and end fighting is now,” stated the representative of the United States, underscoring her country’s commitment to ending the war. Washington, D.C., has been in close contact with Ukrainian counterparts throughout the conflict and will continue to do so. It has also opened a direct dialogue with the Russian Federation in the past week. Following discussions in Riyadh, the United States and the Russian Federation have committed to negotiating towards an end of the conflict, which is enduring and acceptable to all engaged parties. She called on all Member States to push for a durable peace “to bring stability to Europe and deter further aggression”.
The Russian Federation’s delegate noted significant dissonance in European support for Ukraine, with ministers reading out “cookie-cutter statements”. Calling the meeting an “open attempt to thwart the positive progress that has been made which will soon help result” in a lasting settlement to the Ukrainian crisis, he emphasized that the “Kyiv regime and its European sponsors are interested not in peace, but in pursuing war until the last Ukrainian”. Welcoming the new positive policy of the Administration of United States President Donald J. Trump, he pointed to emerging details about what “took place and continues to take place under the [Ukraine President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy regime” despite Moscow’s persistent efforts to prevent this.
Condemning Ukraine’s “anti-Russian project”, financed from the beginning by the West, he noted that, from 2021 to 2024, the United States Agency for International Development spent $30.6 billion in Ukraine, without which Ukrainian gross domestic product (GDP) “independently did not exist”. He stated that up to 90 per cent of Ukrainian media outlets were financed by the Agency, with payments for public opinion leaders to appear on social networks, compelling “everybody to believe in the universal popularity of the erstwhile comic”, which “turned out to be a lie”, but was shaping Ukraine’s political landscape. He noted that Volodymyr Zelenskyy, upon election, immediately abandoned his promises regarding the East and for the defence of the Russian language.
Meanwhile, Mariana Betsa, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, said the Council resolution just adopted “lacks the qualification” of the war as an aggression of one Member State against another. Despite the disparity in military strength — with over 600,000 Russian Federation troops deployed on Ukraine’s territory today — Ukraine’s defence forces continue to stand firm.
“We gave up the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal in the hope of making the world a safer place,” she said, citing the Budapest Memorandum as “a deal without viable security guarantees”. Meanwhile, Moscow has significantly expanded Soviet-era stockpiles, and today, it is capable of striking Ukrainian front-line positions and residential areas, with thousands of guided aerial bombs every month. In 2024 alone, its aviation launched 40,000 such bombs. Moreover, the Russian Federation engaged Tehran and Pyongyang in its war of aggression.
Nonetheless, she said the Russian Federation has failed to break Ukraine on the battlefield. “There is nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine, and there is nothing about Europe without Europe,” she asserted. And while Ukraine wants peace “more than anyone”, that doesn’t mean just any peace, she emphasized, calling for clear security guarantees. She added that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union are indispensable elements of regional security, and “Ukraine is eager to be part of them”.
Many speakers highlighted the devastating and long-lasting consequences of Moscow’s aggression on food security, the environment and nuclear security, calling for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace — not an agreement imposed under duress on the victim.
“We cannot have the aggressor impose a deal on the victim, an aggressor who continues to intensify its attacks on civilian population and infrastructure,” underscored Erica Schouten, the representative of the Netherlands and Special Envoy for Ukraine. She called for “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine” and for Europe — whose security is directly impacted — to be involved, too. This war must end, not just for the sake of Ukraine and Europe but for the sake of the world, she stressed.
In the same vein, France’s delegate stressed that Europe — whose security is at stake — must participate in any negotiations and affirmed that any resolution to the conflict without Ukraine will be a dead letter and “lay the groundwork for future wars”. He recalled that the Russian Federation alone decided on 24 February 2022 to bring war back to European soil — carrying out deliberate strikes against the Ukrainian civilian population and energy infrastructure, using sexual violence as a weapon of war and forcing deportations of Ukrainian children.
A war Russian Federation President Vladimir V. Putin said would take three days is now three years on, concurred his counterpart from the United Kingdom. Ukraine is more than ready for the war to end, but its voice must be at the heart of any talks towards a peace that “shows aggression does not pay, and ends forever Putin’s imperialist ambitions”, she stressed. By contrast, President Putin “only wants capitulation”. The strength and courage shown by Ukraine must be underpinned by robust security agreements from the outset, she stated, adding that President Putin has repeatedly demonstrated that he will break a weak deal and has long denied Ukraine’s right to exist as a free State.
Georgios Gerapetritis, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Greece, affirmed that his Government’s stance on Ukraine “has been crystal clear from the very beginning of the war, which now enters its fourth year”. All Member States must work towards an end to the suffering and destruction in Ukraine; however, it is incumbent to explicitly refer to international law and the Charter of the United Nations in the resolution. He stated it was not easy to understand why amendments proposed by European Council members were not upheld — including that the Council would employ a swift end to the conflict, urging a just, lasting and comprehensive peace between Ukraine and the Russian Federation.
Radosław Sikorski, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Poland, also speaking for the High Representative of the European Union, urged Moscow to “stop the killing and leave territories it illegally occupies”. Calling on Member States to never forget the crimes committed by Russian Federation troops in Bucha, Mariupol and many other places across Ukraine, he also acknowledged the far-reaching repercussions beyond Ukraine.
“We will never recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk or any other region of Ukraine,” echoed Baiba Braže, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Latvia, also speaking for Estonia and Lithuania. Underlining that borders must not be altered by force, she recalled that, three years ago, the International Court of Justice ordered the Russian Federation to stop its military activities in Ukraine. “Three years on, Ukraine has stopped a nuclear-armed State of 140 million from realizing its imperialist goals,” she added.
Pasi Rajala, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Finland, also speaking for Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, demanded the immediate return of thousands of children who have been unlawfully deported or transferred by the Russian Federation, which violates the laws of war at every turn. Hailing the General Assembly’s decision earlier today to support just and fair peace in Ukraine, he affirmed that Ukrainians want peace and love freedom, and the Council must advance these goals. Any solution for lasting peace will necessitate a strong European involvement as Member States have “a collective interest to prevent a resurgence of violence and destruction”.
MIL OSI United Nations News –
