UN Security Council Briefing on Maintenance of Peace and Security of Ukraine
Statement delivered by H.E. Rein Tammsaar, Permanent Representative of Estonia on behalf of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
27 November 2024, New York
President,
I have the honor to speak on behalf of the three Baltic states – Latvia, Lithuania and my own country, Estonia. We align ourselves with the Statement of the European Union.
President,
Criminal Russia’s regime, instead of opting to de-escalate and to heed the calls of international community to find a peaceful end to this war, has again decided to pursue escalation in Ukraine. Exemplified by Russia launching a record amount of drone strikes into Ukraine during the past days, in which energy infrastructure in several regions was seriously hit. Moreover, last Thursday Kremlin fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile at the city of Dnipro with a warning that more would follow. While Russia’s nuclear saber rattling is unfortunately nothing new, firing experimental missiles with capability of carrying nuclear warheads at another Member State is an irresponsible and deeply concerning development. Let me be clear, such desperate attempts of intimidation are not going to work.
President,
The deepening involvement of Iran, the DPRK and Belarus in Russia’s aggression against Ukraine must stop immediately. DPRK’s continued large scale supply of artillery shells and ballistic missiles to Russia and the involvement of the DPRK’s troops fighting on Russia’s side in Ukraine are a major escalation with global consequences. We also urge China, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council with a particular responsibility to uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, to exercise its influence to end Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and providing peaceful tomorrow for Ukrainians.
In addition, recent reports of Russia recruiting cannon fodder from Yemen to fight for them in Ukraine only further displays Russia’s escalatory course of action. It is highly alarming that military and mercenaries from all over the world are being recruited to fight in the heart of Europe to satisfy Russia’s neo-colonial and imperial ambitions.
President,
The developments I and many around this table have highlighted only confirm that Russia’s goals in Ukraine have not changed – they don’t want peace, but to erase sovereign Ukrainian state from the map and root out the national identity of Ukrainian people. This is not going to happen. We will not allow this to happen
We stand with the Ukrainian people and reiterate our unwavering support to Ukraine’s right for self-defense, and Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.
We call upon the UN membership to support Ukraine’s Peace Formula, which is the only viable framework to secure a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine, based on principles of the UN Charter.
I thank you