Five years ago, on September 24, 2014, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk of Ukraine spoke at the United Nations General Assembly.
He reminded the audience that Ukraine was a co-founder of the U.N., and in the face of threats to peace and stability for which the organization was founded, Ukraine continues its struggle against its larger neighbor, Russia.
Mr. Yatsenyuk stated:
“…Let me remind you the origin of the conflict that evolves in Ukraine. Is it a domestic conflict? No. That’s true that my country has differences. And we are ready to handle and to tackle these differences inside our country. But the thing is that the origin of the conflict is an invasion that was made by the Russian Federation.
“A P5 member violated the U.N. Charter, which is absolutely and entirely unacceptable for a permanent U.N. Security Council member. It’s better for Russia to be an ‘insecurity’ member rather than a security one.”
Ukraine, the prime minister continued, voluntarily abandoned its nuclear arsenal with the signing of the Budapest Memorandum in 1994 that gave assurances for the protection of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. Russia, as a co-signer of this memorandum, violated the agreement with the invasion and illegal annexation of Crimea and its proxy war in eastern Ukraine. He noted that Russian regular combat troops were on Ukrainian territory.
Mr. Yatsenyuk thanked the U.N member states that overwhelmingly supported the U.N. resolution that upheld “Ukraine’s territorial integrity and condemned the illegal annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation.”
In addition to Russia’s actions violating the U.N. Charter, Mr. Yatsenyuk underscored that Russia had also violated resolutions on counterterrorism that were passed by the U.N.
He highlighted the fact that Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile, and said Ukraine mourns the 298 victims from the Netherlands, Australia, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Germany. “Ukraine handed over an investigation to an independent body which is Dutch-led [the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) included representatives from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine],” he said.
“Every day, despite the ceasefire, we are losing Ukrainian soldiers, we are losing civilians and the shelling is still going on,” he said. “The military option is definitely not the best one. So it is to be a comprehensive approach which comprises diplomatic, financial, political and only at a last [resort] – military options,” Mr. Yatsenyuk said.
He thanked the U.S. and the EU for imposing sanctions against Russia, and noted that maintaining sanctions is how to start real talks and how to hammer out a peace deal. “Not trust in words. We trust only deeds and actions,” he added.
Ukraine, he said, is committed to restoring law and order. He urged the Russian Federation to stick to its international obligation to execute everything that was written in the Minsk agreements, reminding that Russia could not cherry-pick what requirements it chose to fulfill.
Mr. Yatsenyuk concluded: “Let me end with a direct message to the Russian president: Mr. Putin, you can win a fight against the troops. But you will never win the fight against the nation, the united Ukrainian nation.”
Five years later, the situation has not changed as Ukraine continues to seek a formula for peace.
The 74th session of the U.N. General Assembly opened on September 17 and the general debate is held on September 24-30.
Source: “Ukrainian PM’s address to the U.N. General Assembly,” The Ukrainian Weekly, October 5, 2014.