26 March 2025
Madam President,
I would like to thank Denmark’s Presidency for convening this meeting.
I am also grateful to Assistant Secretary-General Joyce Msuya for her substantive briefing.
The Russian Federation continues to terrorize Ukrainian civilians by relentlessly striking critical infrastructure and residential areas across the country with missiles, MLRS, guided bombs, and attack drones – causing widespread death and destruction.
Frontline and border regions, particularly Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Kryvyi Rih and Kharkiv, remain under constant Russian attack.
Distinguished members of the Security Council, we should focus on Russian actions and not their statements. And their actions are the following.
On the night of 1 March 2025 the Russian Federation launched at least nine Shahed drones on Kharkiv, damaging a hospital with patients inside and injuring at least seven.
On the night of 3 March, Russian attack on an Ecopark near Kharkiv destroyed animal enclosures, a medical center, and a mother-and-child house. The same day, airstrikes on Omelnyk (Zaporizhzhia) destroyed a home, killing one and injuring another. On 4 March, a drone strike on Sumy caused a fire in a children’s medical facility.
On 5 March, a ballistic missile struck a hotel in Kryvyi Rih, killing at least 4 and injuring 32, including two children. Damage included 14 apartment buildings, a post office, cultural center, shops, and vehicles.
On 7 March, a massive Russian assault on energy infrastructure hit multiple regions across Ukraine: Odesa, Poltava, Chernihiv, Ternopil, using nearly 70 missiles and 200 drones. In Kharkiv, a missile injured civilians near an apartment building.
That same day at night, the Russian Federation launched а ballistic missile attack on the center of Dobropillia, Donetsk region, killing at least 11 people and injuring 50 others, including seven children. As firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze, Russian forces carried out а second strike, targeting the rescuers.
On 11 March, Russian drones damaged an infrastructure facility in Dnipro, about 10 private houses and broke windows in a kindergarden and a school.
On 12 March, Russia launched ballistic missiles at Kryvyi Rih, killing 1 person and injuring 15. Russia launched a double-tap strike on rescuers and medics who arrived at the scene. The strike damaged an infrastructure facility, multi-story residential buildings, administrative buildings, a shop, garages, 12 cars and 2 units of rescue equipment.
On 13 March, Russians massively attacked Kherson with artillery, killing a woman and injuring a man. The same day, critical infrastructure facilities in Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro regions were attacked.
On 14 March, Russians attacked a hospital in Zolochiv, Kharkiv region, with drones. A double-tap attack was carried out in 40 minutes after the first strike.
On 14 March Russian troops attacked the centre of Kherson with guided aerial bombs, killing 1 and injuring 7 civilians.
On 15 March, an attack drone damaged 65 apartments in a multi-story building, 12 private houses and 19 cars in one of Chernihiv’s neighbourhoods.
On 16 March, an attack drone hit a multi-story building in Chernihiv, injuring a woman.
On 21 March, the Russian Federation launched a drone attack on Zaporizhzhia, killing a family – a 17-year-old girl, her father and mother. The attack injured at least 14 people, including a nine-month-old baby. The drone strikes caused fires and widespread destruction in Zaporizhzhia.
Overnight on 23 March, Russia attacked residential areas of Ukraine using nearly 150 strike drones. Russia’s massive drone attack on Kyiv and the Kyiv region killed at least three people, including a father and his five-year-old daughter, and injured 10 others, including an 11-month-old baby. This attack damaged apartment buildings, private houses and cars.
On 24 March, the Russian Federation launched a missile strike on the city centre of Sumy, injuring at least 88 people, including 17 children, and damaging several high-rise residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, including a school.
The same day, Russia launched its third consecutive overnight air attack on Kyiv.
25 March – the Russian forces struck a residential area in the village of Kurtivka, Donetsk region, with a FAB-250 bomb, killing a 36-year-old mother and her 3-year-old daughter, and injuring her 15-year-old daughter, who was hospitalized. The family was at a playground when the strike hit them.
Last night, Russia launched 117 strike drones – mostly Shaheds – against civilians across Ukraine. Dnipro, Sumy, Cherkasy and other regions came under Russian attack. Kryvyi Rih suffered a massive drone strike, targeting a local enterprise and the civilian infrastructure. In Okhtyrka, Sumy region, homes, stores and the civilian infrastructure were damaged. Communities in Donetsk, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions also came under fire. It was another night of Russian terror targeting Ukrainian civilians.
These attacks are a daily reality. In just the first half of March alone, the Russian Federation launched hundreds of strikes against the Ukrainian people, using approximately 2,800 guided aerial bombs, nearly 2,000 attack drones, and over 100 missiles of various types. Which means that on average, Russia used each day 200 guided aerial bombs, 143 attack drones, and 7 missiles. Every single day!
The Russian Federation must be held accountable for the vast destruction it has inflicted on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure. According to Ukrainian law enforcement, over 212,000 civilian sites have been damaged or destroyed – including over 171,000 residential buildings. The attacks have also affected over 1,600 schools, with at least 200 completely destroyed, and nearly 2,000 medical facilities, of which 300 have been reduced to rubble.
Madam President,
From the very first day of the invasion, Russia has deliberately sought to block Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea, directly threatening global food security.
It has consistently targeted southern Ukraine’s port infrastructure, commercial vessels, and grain storage facilities. All this was done to weaken Ukraine’s export capacity and deliberately provoke a food crisis in regions heavily reliant on Ukrainian grain.
On 1 March, Russia launched a missile strike on port infrastructure in Odesa, injuring two port workers and damaging two civilian vessels – including a Sierra Leone-flagged bulk carrier loaded with over 21,000 tons of corn and soybeans, and a Panama-flagged container ship.
On 11 March, a ballistic missile attack on the same port killed four Syrian crew members and injured two others (a Ukrainian and a Syrian). The attack damaged another ship, docks, and grain storage facilities. The vessel targeted was loading wheat for export to Algeria.
Such strikes directly undermine food security in vulnerable regions across the globe. Today, over 40 countries rely on Ukrainian grain exports. These deliberate attacks risk deepening instability in areas already facing food shortages.
Madam President,
In its latest report the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine has further confirmed that the widespread use of torture is not incidental but a deliberate and systematic element of Russian state policy – amounting to crimes against humanity. The report documents ongoing torture of civilians and POWs, inhumane detention conditions, and the use of sexual violence – particularly against male detainees – as a method of torture. It also presents clear evidence of numerous executions of prisoners of war and a disturbing “take no prisoners” policy by the Russian military, in direct and cynical violation of the Geneva Conventions.
The Commission’s efforts to investigate and document Russia’s war crimes are essential to ensuring justice and accountability. We therefore urge continued support for its mandate and the allocation of adequate funding to sustain its work.
Ukraine also welcomes the recent OHCHR thematic report focused on the impact of Russia’s aggression on the rights of Ukrainian children – the first of its kind. The report provides vital, verified evidence of systematic violations, especially in territories temporarily occupied by Russia.
It confirms at least 669 children killed and 1,833 injured due to Russia’s use of explosive weapons in civilian areas, and documents the destruction of schools and hospitals, the militarization of children, forced implementation of Russian curricula, suppression of the Ukrainian language, and persecution of families trying to protect their children’s right to education.
Particularly alarming are the forcible transfers and deportations of Ukrainian children to Russia and Belarus, the illegal change of their citizenship, and efforts to erase their Ukrainian identity.
Ukraine urges all relevant UN mandates to continue their critical monitoring and reporting work. We call on the international community to act on these findings – ensuring accountability and supporting the return of deported children through initiatives such as the Bring Kids Back UA platform and the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children.
On 20 March, we saw one more Kremlin’s decree, which provides for the forced expulsion of Ukrainian citizens living in the temporarily occupied territories and in the territory of Russia, without so-called ”legal grounds”. Yet another step in Russia’s campaign of discrimination, persecution and forced displacement of Ukrainian citizens from their homeland, or coercion to acquire the status of a foreigner. These systematic deportations and persecutions are part of Russia’s policy of genocide against Ukrainian people.
Responsible for the crime of aggression, war crimes, and crimes against humanity must be brought to justice.
We are grateful to all those who contribute to freeing our people from Russian captivity – both military and civilian – as well as to return Ukrainian children who were forcibly taken by the Russians. It remains our priority.
Madam President,
Ukraine began recording episodic cases of the use of dangerous chemical substances by the Russian troops from the beginning of the full-scale invasion in flagrant violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, by using hazardous chemical substances.
According to the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, from February 2023 to February 2025, there have been recorded and documented over 6,900 cases of Russia’s use of munitions containing hazardous chemicals. Over 3,400 Ukrainian servicemen have been hospitalized with poisoning from chemicals used by the Russians.
The two reports of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons emphasize that the evidence provided by Ukraine has been collected and provided to the OPCW representatives in compliance with the chain-of-custody and relevant procedures. Two independent OPCW designated laboratories have confirmed that the evidence provided by Ukraine contains CS substance, which is a part of riot control agents.
The situation at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant remains critically difficult.
The Russian Federation continues to ignore the UNGA resolution 78/316 “Safety and security of nuclear facilities of Ukraine, including the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant” and IAEA General Conference and Board of Governors’ resolutions on nuclear safety and security in Ukraine.
The only way to ensure nuclear safety and security is the complete withdrawal of the Russian Federation’s troops and other unauthorized personnel from all ZNPP facilities and the return of the plant to the full sovereign control of Ukraine.
Madam President,
Ukraine welcomes President Trump’s continued efforts to end Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and restore a just and lasting peace.
We welcome American mediation and the advancing of this process. We are grateful to Saudi Arabia for hospitality and facilitation.
Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians.
Ukraine has clearly demonstrated its desire for peace and its readiness to take concrete steps.
But we won`t accept “peace at any price” – as any appeasement of aggressor would only encourage it to continue attacks in the future.
Ukraine has made its three principled positions clear:
1. We will not recognize any temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine as Russian.
2. We will not agree to any foreign diktat regarding the structure, number, and other characteristics of the Defenсe Forces of Ukraine.
3. We will not accept any restrictions on Ukraine’s sovereignty, our domestic and foreign policies, including on the choice of alliances that we would like to join.
We have already demonstrated our commitment to give peace a chance – as Ukraine has agreed to the US proposal of an immediate, interim and full 30-day ceasefire. Russia`s refusal to support it is a clear evidence, who is an obstacle to peace.
A crucial aspect of any future peace framework is that a temporary ceasefire does not turn into a frozen conflict. Current ceasefire efforts – the results of the consultations in Riyadh on 23-25 March 2025 – are only a measure that has to lay the foundation for permanent peace.
Ukraine and the United States have agreed to a ceasefire regarding energy facilities. We believe that such a ceasefire took effect at the moment when the relevant statement was published following the Ukrainian-U.S. meeting.
Ukraine and the United States also agreed on a ceasefire in the Black Sea, which applies not only to civilian shipping but also to ports. We believe that the agreement on the sea does not extend to Russian warships. If Russian warships – currently concentrated in the eastern part of the Black Sea – enter our territorial waters, Ukraine will consider this a threat and will exercise its right to self-defence.
We continue working closely with our American and European partners to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace with real security guarantees for our people.
Madam President,
Moscow speaks of peace while launching brutal strikes almost daily on densely populated residential areas in major Ukrainian cities. Instead of making hollow statements about peace, the Russian Federation must stop bombing Ukrainian cities and end its war against civilians.
Everyone should focus on Russian actions, not their statements. The coming days will be critical in determining whether Russia is serious about peace or intends to deceive the United States and the world.
Any diplomacy with Moscow must be backed by sanctions, pressure and increased support for Ukraine.
To push the Russian Federation toward peace, we need strong measures and decisive actions.
We are ready to take the necessary steps toward peace as quickly as possible, together with the United States, Europe and all partners. However, if the Russian Federation continues attacking our energy sector, we will respond. If Russia manipulates the naval ceasefire, we will work with our partners to increase pressure. Our position will remain strong.
Ukraine resists and stands firmly. We will continue to defend ourselves. To sustain this fight against aggression, we need further international support, including in arms.
NATO and the EU are indispensable elements of regional security, and Ukraine is eager to become a part of them – not only as a security recipient but as a security provider.
We must establish a comprehensive, just and lasting peace for Ukraine based on the principles of the UN Charter and with clear security guarantees.
Thank you.