Mr. President,
I would like to begin by thanking Under-Secretary-General Mrs. Rosemary DiCarlo as well as the director of OCHA in Geneva, Mr. Ramesh Rajasingham, for their briefings.
The situation they describe is unambiguous.
On the one hand, Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia, continues to demonstrate its willingness for peace, its willingness to put an end to the war, within the framework of the efforts led by the United States and Europe. Ukraine has done so consistently during the high-level meetings held in the United States and Europe in the past weeks.
On the other hand, Russia is once again choosing to escalate the violence and target the Ukrainian civilian population. We once again would like to express our full solidarity with the Ukrainian people.
Mr. President,
A few days ago, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov did not hesitate to say that “Europeans constituted the main obstacle to peace.”
But when Russia boasts of firing a nuclear-capable ballistic missile at Lviv, 50 kilometers from the Polish border, which State trully constitutes an obstacle to peace? Especially since Russia claimed to be acting in response to an alleged Ukrainian attack on a Russian presidential residence, an alleged attack that we all know is a crude Russian staging aimed at undermining the peace process at a time when it’s up to Russia to respond to a carefully prepared proposal by the American mediators.
When Russia deliberately bombs the electricity, heating and water networks of major Ukrainian cities in disregard of the Geneva Conventions, which State trully constitutes an obstacle to peace? These strikes are causing a dramatic humanitarian situation for hundreds of thousands of civilians facing freezing temperatures.
When strikes hit the embassy of Qatar in Ukraine, in violation of the Vienna Convention, and when Russian drones attack grain vessels in Odessa, jeopardizing global food security, which State trully constitutes an obstacle to peace?
It is Russia, which almost four years ago, launched a war of aggression against a sovereign State, in violation of the United Nations Charter. It is Russia which, every day, chooses to continue this aggression, even though it could stop it at any moment without arming to its own security. Russia’s attempts to reverse this reality cannot deceive the members of this Council nor the entire international community.
Mr. President,
Together with its European partners, France will continue over the long term to support Ukraine in exercising its right to legitimate self-defense in the face of the aggression it is suffering and to support its sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity. The decisions taken at the European Council on December 18 bear witness to this, for anyone who might doubt our determination.
We are also preparing the terms of a just and lasting peace. This was, precisely, the purpose of the Paris Summit on January 6, which brought together 35 Member States of the Coalition of the Willing, Ukraine, and the United States, in order to commit ourselves to a system of collective security guarantees for Ukraine as soon as a ceasefire enters into force. Any settlement must indeed be supported by solid security guarantees for Ukraine in order to prevent any new Russian aggression.
Mr. President,
Together with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, with the vast majority of the international community, and with Ukraine, France reiterates its call for a complete, immediate and unconditional ceasefire, as the Russian war of aggression has now lasted for almost four years.
We call on Russia to listen to these voices from accross the globe, to cease its aggression and to choose genuine dialogue over delaying tactics.
France will continue to work tirelessly, alongside all of its partners, in favor of a just and lasting peace.
Thank you.