PRESS RELEASE : Ukrainian civilians pay the price for Russia’s savage attacks: UK statement to the OSCE [May 2023]
The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 11 May 2023.
The United Kingdom says it will not allow Russia’s aggression and brutality to become normalised, as Russia unleashes yet more strikes across Ukraine.
Thank you. Mr Chair, this week many participating States of the OSCE commemorated the anniversary of the end of the Second World War. However, the people of Ukraine were not able to reflect in peace and safety. On Saturday and Sunday, air raid alerts sounded across two thirds of Ukraine. Missile strikes were reported in Kharkiv, Kherson, Nikolaev and Odesa on Monday morning. Civilians were yet again among the casualties, once more paying the price for Russia’s brutal attacks. These strikes hit a Ukrainian Red Cross warehouse in Odesa and a mobile hospital in Mykolaiv. Such callous attacks harm the most vulnerable people in Ukraine, those in greatest need of humanitarian support. Such attacks are particularly inexcusable and repugnant.
It has also been reported that in a separate incident, members of Ukraine’s State Emergency Service were killed by shelling in Kherson. They were engaged in de-mining operations, working selflessly to make the area safer.
Further East, the fields surrounding Bakhmut are grey and cratered after relentless bombing. The city itself has been almost entirely destroyed. Russia has turned this once thriving city into a wasteland.
Mr Chair, on Tuesday, the same day that Russia launched waves of missile strikes at Ukraine’s capital, President Putin marked Victory Day with a speech in which he claimed that a war had been unleashed against Russia. Yet, as all of us in this room know, it was Russia that unleashed an unprovoked and illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It is Russia that has bombarded Ukraine’s critical national infrastructure, killing thousands of civilians in the process. It is Ukraine that defends itself, regaining territory and liberating thousands of Ukrainian people.
Despite Russia’s continual assaults, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have held firm. Ukraine’s resilience and bravery, coupled with military, humanitarian and economic support from the UK and other partners, will ensure that they will prevail. We will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes.
Since we last met, Mr Chair, the IAEA has warned of the “potentially dangerous” situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Russia’s disregard of international law and its continued military presence has put Ukrainian nuclear facilities at risk. This endangers local populations and the wider region. The responsibility for such danger lies squarely with Russia. This is sovereign Ukrainian territory, and the Plant must be returned to Ukraine’s control to ensure its safe and secure operation. We support all efforts to reduce the risks to the Nuclear Power Plant caused by Russia’s illegal invasion, including the IAEA’s work.
The price that Ukraine’s civilians and infrastructure are paying for Russia’s horrendous attacks must not become normalised. The UK and our partners will continue to work to hold those guilty of atrocities to account. Russia must end its doomed aggression against Ukraine, and cease its shameful attacks on the Ukrainian people. It is Ukraine that fights for the OSCE’s core principles: sovereignty, territorial integrity, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It is Russia that is on the wrong side of history.
Thank you, Mr Chair.
