As delivered by the Ukrainian Delegation, to the 1481st special meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council on 09 July 2024
Madam Chairperson,
I would like to thank the OSCE Chairpersonship for its prompt reaction and convening the special meeting of the Permanent Council in response to russia’s missile terror.
We are also grateful to the President of the Parliamentary Assembly for condemning of the crime.
It was a dark Monday for Ukraine due to russia’s yet another missile barrage.
Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Slovyansk, Kramatorsk were under the attack.
Reportedly, 11 people were killed and 68 wounded in Kryvyi Rih and in Dnipro.
In Kyiv, the attack claimed the lives of 31 people and left 117 injured.
These numbers may still increase, as there are severely injured.
Just at our last meeting, it was said that the russian delegation hit a new moral low by trying to whitewash kidnapping children.
However, russia decided to remind that its cruelty knows no limits.
By attacking Kyiv’s Okhmatdyt Hospital, the biggest kid’s centre in Ukraine.
The russian missile destroyed the toxicology building and damaged four more.
Apart from that, there were affected surgical, oncology, somatic departments, intensive care units, surgery blocks; radiology and radiation therapy department.
Also, the oncology and hematology laboratory, the only one in the country, was damaged.
It was moving to see ordinary Kyiv residents joining the emergency services in removing the rubble.
This has demonstrated once again the unwavering unity of Ukrainians in the face of the aggressor’s brutal force.
This centre is dear to all Ukrainians, as Okhmatdyt is an acronym from Ukrainian “Mother-and-Child Care” [Охорона Матері і Дитини].
It treats up to 20 000 children and performs about 7 000 operations annually.
This hospital is usually the last chance for severely ill children, including with oncology.
Likewise, this centre is the last hope for their parents to help their children.
The hospital is the concentration of pain and hope, of suffering and struggle for life.
So, russia could hardly have chosen a more symbolic target for its terror.
Moscow could hardly have invented more painful torture than inflicting suffering on already bedridden children fighting against horrible diseases.
It was heartbreaking to see children put on a life-support machine being relocated to a safer place.
And the kremlin could hardly have reiterated its genocidal intentions more than by targeting the biggest kid’s hospital with unique equipment and trying to kill experienced medical workers.
Thousands could be deprived of their chance to live. Just let me give you a few examples to illustrate the complexity of the work done in the centre.
As the attack happened, an 8-year-old child with a heart disease was on the operating table. It was a miracle that everyone survived.
Or, according to the hospital leadership, four transplantations are scheduled to take place this week in the bone marrow transplant unit alone.
Otherwise, the children will not survive.
Currently, all necessary measures are being taken to ensure that all urgent and planned operations are carried out, and the treatment of dialysis patients and oncology patients is not interrupted.
And as moscow has already started to generate fakes about the attack, it should be noted, later that day, in Kyiv, another private hospital was damaged.
Seven people were killed.
It is a stark reminder that russia intentionally targets medical facilities and civilian infrastructure.
Esteemed colleagues,
Genocide against children has always been part of Russia's war strategy.
From the very first day of its invasion russia kidnaps, kills, maims, brainwashes, indoctrinates children.
And this genocide strategy is amplified with every atrocity.
In part, this genocidal strategy is a result of the propaganda of war, whitewashing of crimes, dehumanizing of the Ukrainian people promoted by the russian state-funded TV and repeated by the russian diplomats here in the OSCE.
The attack on Okhmatdyt is a stark reminder that such language cannot be further accepted within the OSCE.
And russia’s events justifying the war of aggression cannot be further tolerated in this Organization.
Because when the russian diplomats are speaking about the formation of new multipolarity or defending russia’s national interests, it means new deaths in Ukraine.
At the same time, the attack on Okhmatdyt has once again revealed russia's true face.
This is a true response of vladimir putin to all peace missions and proposals. It is important to remember whom we are dealing with.
As President Zelenskyy stated yesterday, that “every time when there are attempts to discuss peace with [vladimir putin], russia responds with strikes on homes and hospitals. This is why we can only force Russia into peace, and we can only do this together with everyone in the world who genuinely seeks peace. This requires sufficient support, determination, and truly joint action”.
And those who advocate for a compromise with the aggressor and try to reproduce the aggressor’s narratives, should answer a very simple question.
Which kid’s hospital and where would be the next target for another would-be aggressor?
That said, I would like to recall once again that to achieve a just, sustainable and lasting peace, proper conditions must be set for that.
These steps must include:
it is simple. If russia can bomb children’s hospitals, then russian military bases and infrastructure have to be neutralized and moscow must be deprived of every penny its war machine may benefit from.
All 38 missiles, including Kinzhal, Iskander, Zirkon, Kh-22, Kh-101 and Kalibr cruise missiles; Kh-59/Kh-69 guided air missiles, used to attack Ukraine yesterday, cannot be produced by russia on its own. Finally, it should be deprived of the possibilities to reproduce the tools of terror.
And last but not least, the country that every day and each hour deliberately violates all the principles the OSCE is founded has no right to be a part of this Organization.
By doing this, we can effectively translate into practice the prohibition by international humanitarian law of directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects.
Only these steps could pave the way for a just, lasting and comprehensive peace.
And we must do whatever it takes to prevent the repetition of such attacks.
We have to act now.
I thank you, Madam Chairperson.