188体育

Thank you, Mister Chair. 聽Minister Betsa, thank you for your address today.聽 What an excellent expos茅 of what is at stake.聽 Thank you being here and for reminding us once again.

We welcome Ukraine鈥檚 continued commitment to achieving a just and lasting peace, as you have reaffirmed in your statement.

President Zelenskyy has shown his commitment to peace by agreeing in principle to a full and unconditional ceasefire.聽 By contrast, President Putin has not only refused to agree to that but has further stepped-up attacks on Ukrainian cities with drones and missiles. 聽In April Russia intensified strikes on Ukrainian cities, killing at least 151 civilians. And just yesterday, as Russia spoke of yet another artificial ceasefire, Moscow launched a ballistic missile and drone attack on a residential area of Kyiv, killing at least 2 people and injury 8, including 4 children.

If President Putin were serious about peace, Russia would agree to a full and immediate ceasefire, as Ukraine has done. His 72-hour Victory Day proposal is another transparently cynical pause which does not create the necessary conditions for talks aimed at achieving a lasting peace.聽 It cannot be taken seriously, particularly given Ukraine鈥檚 experience of President Putin鈥檚 so-called truce over Easter: the UK鈥檚 Defence Intelligence found no indication that a ceasefire on the frontline was observed by Russia, despite President Putin鈥檚 promises.

We will judge President Putin by his actions not his words, and his actions suggest he has no interest in peace. 聽To prove he is serious about peace he must agree to the full and unconditional ceasefire offered by Ukraine and supported by the United States.

Mister Chair, earlier this week the Human Rights Centre Zmina organised a side event in the margins of the Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on the issue of civil society resistance and losses during Russia鈥檚 war against Ukraine.聽 It placed a spotlight on the vital work of Ukraine鈥檚 brave civil society members and the high price that too many of them have tragically paid for their work amid Russia鈥檚 war.

Russia continues to arbitrarily detain thousands of Ukrainian civilians, including human rights defenders and journalists.聽 This was established by a mission of independent experts who, a little over a year ago, reported to the Permanent Council following the invocation of the Moscow Mechanism.

The Mission found that detainees had been subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, sexual violence and other forms of serious mistreatment. 聽The Mission also recorded cases of extrajudicial killings of arbitrarily detained Ukrainian civilians.

The expert mission made a range of recommendations to the Russian Federation.聽 A year later, these remain unanswered; just like those from the other four Moscow Mechanism reports. 聽We urge the Russian Federation to respond substantively to all these recommendations and release, without delay, all Ukrainian civilians who continue to be held arbitrarily.

Thank you, Mister Chair.