Russia’s record of barbarism and criminality in the five months since they invaded Ukraine: UK statement to UN Security Council

Thank you President. And I join others in thanking Ambassador Byrne-Nason for her stalwart and eloquent defence of international peace and security during your tenure on the Security Council and elsewhere. We will miss you.

President, I’d like to start by thanking Under-Secretary-General DiCarlo for her briefing.

First, we join others in welcoming the 22 July deal agreed in Istanbul to export the grain trapped by Russia’s blockade of Odesa and other ports.

We commend the role of the UN and Turkiye in brokering this solution.

The agreement is undoubtedly important. Its implementation is now vital.

So that Ukrainian farmers’ grain can once again be baked into bread in markets and on tables around the world – and enable the World Food Programme to address pressing famine conditions in Somalia and Ethiopia.

Second, we cannot forget the record of Russia’s atrocities and crimes in the over five months since Russia invaded Ukraine. Before the ink was even dry on the 22nd of July grain agreement, Russia brazenly attacked Odesa port. This latest attack follows others: breaches of international humanitarian law in Bucha and Irpin, the attacks on civilians in the Mariupol theatre, Kramatorsk train station, Kremenchuk shopping mall, apartment buildings in Chasiv Yar and Vinnytsia, and the widespread torture and abuse of detainees, including women and children, as identified by Human Rights Watch and the OSCE Moscow Mechanism.

The video this week of the castration of a Ukrainian prisoner of war by Russian soldiers is an illustration of Russia’s barbarism and criminality.

Third, Russia has violated the UN Charter and breached its obligations under that charter. For five months, Russia has been engaged in an illegal invasion of another Member State in breach of its obligations under the UN Charter, and in complete disregard of resolutions of the General Assembly and orders of the ICJ.

Preparations for sham referenda in Kherson and Zaporizhzhya are the latest examples of Russia’s breaches of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity.

So, Mr President, we continue to demand that Russia end its invasion, withdraw from Ukraine and uphold its obligations under the UN Charter.