Ambassador Holland urges Russia to respond substantively to the
Moscow Mechanism recommendations and prove they are serious about
peace by agreeing to a full and unconditional ceasefire.
"Thank you, Mister Chair. Minister Betsa, thank you for
your address today. What an excellent exposé of what is at
stake. Thank you being here and for reminding us once
again.
We welcome Ukraine's continued commitment to achieving a just and
lasting peace, as you have reaffirmed in your statement.
President Zelenskyy has shown his commitment to peace by agreeing
in principle to a full and unconditional ceasefire. By
contrast, President Putin has not only refused to agree to that
but has further stepped-up attacks on Ukrainian cities with
drones and missiles. In April Russia intensified strikes on
Ukrainian cities, killing at least 151 civilians. And just
yesterday, as Russia spoke of yet another artificial ceasefire,
Moscow launched a ballistic missile and drone attack on a
residential area of Kyiv, killing at least 2 people and injury 8,
including 4 children.
If President Putin were serious about peace, Russia would agree
to a full and immediate ceasefire, as Ukraine has done. His
72-hour Victory Day proposal is another transparently cynical
pause which does not create the necessary conditions for talks
aimed at achieving a lasting peace. It cannot be taken
seriously, particularly given Ukraine's experience of President
Putin's so-called truce over Easter: the UK's Defence
Intelligence found no indication that a ceasefire on the
frontline was observed by Russia, despite President Putin's
promises.
We will judge President Putin by his actions not his words, and
his actions suggest he has no interest in peace. To prove
he is serious about peace he must agree to the full and
unconditional ceasefire offered by Ukraine and supported by the
United States.
Mister Chair, earlier this week the Human Rights Centre Zmina
organised a side event in the margins of the Supplementary Human
Dimension Meeting on the issue of civil society resistance and
losses during Russia's war against Ukraine. It placed a
spotlight on the vital work of Ukraine's brave civil society
members and the high price that too many of them have tragically
paid for their work amid Russia's war.
Russia continues to arbitrarily detain thousands of Ukrainian
civilians, including human rights defenders and
journalists. This was established by a mission of
independent experts who, a little over a year ago, reported to
the Permanent Council following the invocation of the Moscow
Mechanism.
The Mission found that detainees had been subjected to torture
and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,
sexual violence and other forms of serious mistreatment.
The Mission also recorded cases of extrajudicial killings
of arbitrarily detained Ukrainian civilians.
The expert mission made a range of recommendations to the Russian
Federation. A year later, these remain unanswered; just
like those from the other four Moscow Mechanism reports. We
urge the Russian Federation to respond substantively to all these
recommendations and release, without delay, all Ukrainian
civilians who continue to be held arbitrarily.
Thank you, Mister Chair."
