20 June 2025
Thank you Madam President,
We are grateful to Guyana for convening this meeting. At the outset, I would like to thank Assistant Secretary-General Mr. Jenča and Director Ms. Wosornu for their informative yet worrying briefings.
Madam President,
This war needs to stop. Instead of genuinely embarking on the path to peace through negotiations initiated by the United States, Russia has strayed from it and has intensified its attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, causing immense human suffering and leading to further regional and global destabilization.
In the context of another countrywide assault, Russia launched on June 17 the deadliest attack in Kyiv in almost a year, causing at least 28 deaths.
The total verified figures are gruesome and incontrovertible. Russian attacks have caused 50% more casualties in the first months of 2025 than the same period last year. Civilian infrastructure is constantly targeted, with residential buildings, schools, health facilities and port infrastructure sustaining substantial damage.
We deplore any attacks against civilians and civilian objects. We commend once more the work of OCHA and other humanitarian organizations active in Ukraine and we are calling for their full, safe, and unimpeded access to the areas where their work is most needed.
Madam President,
The world is watching events unfold in Ukraine. The overwhelming majority of UN members have repeatedly condemned Russia’s war of choice against Ukraine. We need to collectively discourage imitators of this aggression and reject in practice the idiom that “might makes right’’.
Greece insists on the need for accountability for the perpetrators of violations of international humanitarian law and justice for the victims. In that respect, we commend the work of international judicial institutions and stress the latest striking findings of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine.
Madam President,
Greece has welcomed recent peace efforts, which led to two rounds of direct bilateral talks between the sides. We also welcome the exchange of prisoners of war, captives under the age of 25 and fallen soldiers which was agreed bilaterally, as a sign of progress. Yet what is needed is not to treat the symptom but the disease, and this can only be done by putting an immediate end to the hostilities that led to this.
What we need now is peace. No peace effort can have any substantial results if hostilities continue. We regret the fact that both rounds have confirmed the significant distance between the two sides and that Ukraine’s willingness to agree to an immediate ceasefire was not reciprocated by Russia.
We call on Russia to heed the calls of the majority of the international community, and make the decisive first step to agree to a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire, on the path towards a just, comprehensive and lasting peace, in line with international law, the UN Charter and in full respect of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Madame President,
In closing, let me stress that Peace in Ukraine can only be sustained by credible and robust security guarantees, which will deter and prevent the recurrence of war in the future, and with the active engagement of the international community, as the security of Ukraine is inextricably intertwined with global security and stability.
I thank you.