Mr. Chairperson, dear colleagues, 

Each and every day russia brings new destruction and deaths to Ukraine.

As I mentioned last time, the city of Kherson continues to be under fire, daily.

This week was no exception.

There were killed and wounded. Including children, when on November 19, a three-year-old girl was injured. Just on the eve of the World Children’s Day.

Meanwhile, russia keeps its terrorist tactics by firing missiles and drones almost every night.

In addition to the launches of Shaheds, Kh-22, and Iskander missiles, russia has started to practice hours-long exercises for a carrier of a Khinzhal missile.

The ongoing air alerts cause enormous psychological pressure on the entire population of Ukraine, as well as stop economic activities in the country and disrupt the educational process.

Actually, this is how russia wants to put on hold the entire country.  

To keep people on edge, russia uses so-called disturbing fire. Like this happens with the intensification of shelling of border areas in the Sumy region.

As reported, there were 189 and 88 explosions on November 19 and 20 respectively.

The russian invaders also keep reminding how incompetent their occupation administration could be dangerous for the entire region and the world.

One of the examples is the 90-minute power outage occurred at the reactor unit 6 of the temporarily occupied ZNPP, forcing it to rely on an emergency diesel generator.

Also, the leak of borated water from the first to the secondary cooling circuit of one of the unit’s steam generators was detected.

Among other things, such actions lead to the degradation of equipment, thus, increasing risks of a nuclear incident.

This is a stark reminder of why the IAEA resolutions must be unconditionally implemented by russia, and full control over the plant must be returned to the Ukrainian authorities without delay. 

While russia tries to target the free territory of Ukraine with artillery, missiles and drones, in the occupied territories moscow uses completely different means.

These means are not as visible, as mortars, tanks or missiles, and create the illusion of normality. However, they are just as deadly as artillery rounds.

Research conducted by the Investigative Journalism Network sheds light on what it means to live under russia’s occupation.

Quotations from the report are chilling.

“Access to food, education, jobs, health-care and life-saving medicines, as well as pensions or property, require swearing allegiance to russia and its constitution and in some cases publicly renouncing Ukrainian citizenship, all to obtain a russian passport”.

It looks like a ghetto.

However, as we know, the russian passport is not a guarantee of peaceful life. Rather, obtaining the russian passport creates new risks, first of all, to be conscripted to the occupying army, as we have learnt from the case of Bohdan Yermokhin, a boy who was taken from Mariupol to russia.  

Luckily, Bohdan is in Ukraine now. But still unknown number of children remain under the russian rule.  

The report concludes that people are trapped in “a reality where torture, death, coercion, deportation, cultural assimilation and military indoctrination are rampant”.

As we see, russia is using every possible tool to consolidate its occupation regime.

The demographic change of population in the occupied territory stands alone here.

In case of the illegally occupied Crimea, the mass transfer of russian citizens is estimated by hundreds of thousands.

This war crime was also documented in the UN Secretary General’s reports.

The newly occupied territories are exposed to the same policy of demographic changes and forced russification, as moscow is trying to have loyal population there. 

And it looks like even more cynically, when one keeps in mind that russia deports Ukrainian children to russia to re-educate them and to solve its demographic problems.

At the same time, russia wages the war against Ukraine, by killing our people and destroying our homes, and later brings its own population to replace locals, who were either killed by russia or who fled from the russian war criminals.

If this is not a genocidal policy, then what?

We have to do our utmost, including by providing Ukraine with military aid and by draining russia’s resources through sanctions, to protect these people and return freedom to them.

Dear colleagues,

November 21 is the Day of Dignity and Freedom in Ukraine.

This was the day when the fight for our democracy and a right to choose our future has started.

As foreseen and guaranteed by the Helsinki Final Act. And as participating States have voluntarily committed to respect. 

On this day, we pay tribute to ordinary people, including from the Heavenly Hundred, who secured for us a chance to build a European, democratic and independent country.

Since then, we, in Ukraine, also know that independence, freedom and democracy cannot be taken for granted.

Someone paid for it with their lives. And our obligation is to protect it.  

However, this day also reminds that russian president considers democratic and European Ukraine as a threat to his regime in russia, which is not built on norms and rules, but on loyalty and obedience.  

That’s why today we are grateful to all our partners for unwavering support and for standing with Ukraine.

Even over the last week, a number of important steps were done to bring our common victory closer.

In particular, we are grateful to the Japanese Presidency and the U.S. for co-organizing G7+ meeting on energy support for Ukraine, as well as to all partners who joined.

Additional air defense and energy equipment are critical, as praised by Minister Kuleba, since we are preparing for the second winter battle against russian terror.

At the same time, the 17^th Rammstein meeting has sent a powerful message that the Free World stands unshakable in defending values and principles we believe in.

As well, we are grateful to Canada for convening the international conference “United for Justice. War Crimes against Ukrainian Children” in Toronto and to all its participants.

We look forward to building up an international coalition focused on the return of Ukrainian children to their home.

This is an important contribution to the implementation of Ukraine’s Peace Formula.

Let me conclude my statement with the quotation of President Zelenskyy who said that, “When freedom of one nation prevails, other free nations always prevail as well”.     

I thank you, Mr. Chair.