Statement by Ambassador , UK Permanent
Representative to the UN, at the UN Security Council meeting on
Ukraine.
"Colleagues, the world has rallied around President Trump's call
for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. Ukraine has agreed.
And we echo that call once again today.
Yet week after week, night after night, we see the number of
Russian assaults grow.
June was the deadliest month yet, and July is on track to be even
deadlier.
This makes a mockery of the diplomacy that Russia claims to
support.
And the consequences are ever more devastating for the people of
Ukraine.
Across five nights from the 18 to 23 July, Russia launched over
940 drones and 59 missiles at Ukrainian cities, killing 20
civilians and injuring a further 216.
Just days before, a record-breaking 728 long-range drones were
launched on Ukraine in a single day.
Since the start of the invasion, over 13,500 civilians have been
killed and more than 34,000 injured. This includes more than 200
children killed or injured since March alone.
We cannot allow ourselves to become desensitised to these
figures. Behind each Russian strike there is a person, a family,
a community whose lives have been torn apart by Russia's brutal
military invasion.
The Shygyds are one such family. On 5 June, as a Ukrainian
firefighter arrived at the scene of a Russian attack on
Chernihiv, he discovered that his wife, his daughter, and his
grandson had all been killed.
His grandson was only a year old. Three generations lost to
cold-blooded Russian brutality in just one night.
This is not an isolated incident. Families like The Shygyds are
being torn apart across Ukraine and have been since February
2022.
Russia has a clear and unqualified obligation to uphold the UN
Charter.
Russia also has an obligation to respect the Geneva Conventions
and to the protection of civilians under international
humanitarian law. There is simply no justification for brutal
aggression like this.
The reality is clear: Ukraine, a country illegally invaded by
Russia, continues to show its commitment to peace. But President
Putin prefers war.
He is shunning diplomatic efforts made in good faith to bring an
end to this horror, a horror of his own making.
There is no ambiguity about what needs to come next.
It is time for Russia to stop prevaricating and agree to an
immediate and unconditional ceasefire, as the first step towards
a just and lasting peace."
