Thanks for your time, Mr. I’d want to thank USG DiCarlo for her briefing, as do others. We also regret the circumstances that brought President Zelenskyy here today, even if we are happy to have him participate once more.
President, Russia has been at war with Ukraine for more than four months now since its illegitimate invasion began.
Russia is still brutalizing eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region in an effort to capture total control.
Additionally, over the weekend, Russia conducted a ferocious barrage of cruise missile attacks at targets around Ukraine, striking a Kremenchuk retail center that was home to over a thousand people among them.
We heard President Zelenskyy read the names of the recently deceased, and we offer our condolences to their loved ones.
Russia responds to pleas for negotiation, peace, and adherence to international law by intensifying the conflict, using missiles, and striking civilians.
more assaults
more devastation
more deaths
And more falsehoods, disinformation, and war propaganda, as I’m sure I’ll hear today.
We also cannot overlook Belarus’ significant role in serving as a direct staging area for the attacks over the weekend and yesterday.
We applaud the Ukrainian people for their remarkable bravery and tenacity in the face of this barbaric attack on their sovereignty, their territorial integrity, and their very existence as a nation.
Ukraine has the right to defend itself, just as any of us would if a foreign army intent on eradicating us repeatedly and relentlessly attacked our cities, towns, and villages with missiles.
In order to help Ukraine exercise its right to self-defense and regain its privileges and rights under the UN Charter, we will continue to do so.
We reaffirm the international community’s demands that Russia halt its illegal invasion of Ukraine, leave its internationally recognized borders, and engage in discussion and negotiation.
Russia must halt its illegal war and its siege of Ukraine’s ports at a time when we are confronting the existential risks of climate change and food insecurity as a result of a global epidemic.