Mr. Chairperson,

I would like to deliver a statement on the subject of Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine.

In just one week, Russia unleashed over 1,900 attack drones – more than 800 of them jet-powered – along with 1,700 aerial bombs and 25 missiles on Ukraine. This is not warfare. This is calculated air terror against civilians.

Every autumn since the full-scale invasion began, Moscow has intensified its strikes on Ukraine’s energy system ahead of winter. On 30 September, another massive missile-and-drone assault hit critical infrastructure in Kyiv and across several regions. Seven people were killed, including a child. Power cuts followed. Cold and darkness are once again being turned into weapons against millions of Ukrainians.

Russia is now expanding its campaign of destruction. In recent weeks, its missiles and drones have struck food warehouses, medicine depots, data centers, railways, hospitals, schools, and research facilities. Now they have added the bridges over the Dnipro in Kyiv. Two vital crossings were hit six times in a matter of days – while cars and metro trains were still moving across them. These bridges connect a city of millions. Destroying them is a deliberate attempt to paralyze civilian life.

Through pure terror, the Kremlin hopes to break the Ukrainian will to resist – and to hide its own failure to achieve decisive results on the battlefield. It will not succeed.

Ukraine will continue to defend itself, including by striking the military and economic assets that fuel Russia’s war machine – above all its oil-refining industry. But the immediate answer from our partners must be stronger: more air and missile defense, more interceptors, and relentless pressure on Russia’s war economy.

We will not break.

Esteemed colleagues,

The same ruthless strategy of intimidation is now aimed at those who stand with Ukraine. Russia has once again threatened foreign diplomats serving in Kyiv – trying to spread fear and drive the international community out of our capital. This is not diplomacy. This is blackmail. This is pure coercion.

Our European partners answered with clarity and courage. EU Ambassador Katarína Mathernová confirmed that all 25 EU Member States with embassies in Kyiv will stay. So did Serbia and Albania. Our partners declared openly: Russian strikes and threats will not force us to leave. Ukraine bows its head in gratitude to these diplomats who continue their duty under fire. Their presence is a living rejection of Moscow’s terror.

This matters. It proves that intimidation fails. Russia’s threats against foreign missions must be recorded as further evidence of its criminal intent – and answered with the opposite of what the Kremlin demands: a louder diplomatic voice, stronger support for Ukraine, and heavier pressure on the aggressor.

This campaign of fear is reinforced by the most aggressive rhetoric from Russia’s highest level. On 1 October at the Valdai Club, Putin once again waved the nuclear threat and spoke the language of confrontation toward Europe and NATO. This continues the pattern of open coercion heard in September and at the United Nations.

Such words are weapons of cognitive warfare. The Kremlin seeks to sow panic, fracture European societies, and erode support for Ukraine. And these threats are matched by hostile acts: airspace violations, sabotage, cyberattacks, and information warfare against EU and NATO states.

History has taught us one hard truth: every concession is read in Moscow as proof that their pressure works. The only answer is unity and iron clad resolve – coordinated sanctions, deeper defence cooperation with Ukraine, stronger air and missile defence, protection of NATO’s eastern flank, and the dismantling of Russia’s ability to use diplomatic and cultural cover for subversion across Europe.

Mr. Chairperson,

Russia’s policy of coercion is equally brutal in the territories it temporarily occupies. In the town of Oleshky, nearly 2,000 civilians – including almost 50 children – remain trapped under occupation. They live without reliable food, clean water, electricity, or medicine. Russian forces block movement and reject every proposal for organised evacuation.

Ukraine has refused to abandon them. On 27 September our heavy-lift drones delivered four tonnes of food and medical supplies across the Dnipro. On 4 October we sent another six tonnes. We will keep flying. And we will keep demanding safe evacuation corridors and unhindered humanitarian access for every civilian still held hostage in the occupied part of Kherson region.

Terror will not break us. It will not drive our partners away. And it will not silence the truth.

Esteemed colleagues,

Russia’s relentless strikes on civilians and critical infrastructure, its threats against foreign diplomats, its nuclear blackmail, and its deliberate starvation of people in occupied territories are not isolated acts. They are one single, coherent policy: the systematic use of terror to break Ukraine, fracture its partners, and destroy the rules that keep Europe secure. There is no limit to a terrorist’s imagination when the world stays silent.

That is why our response must be equally unified and unyielding: stronger air and missile defence for Ukraine, deeper defence-industrial partnership, coordinated sanctions, relentless pressure on Russia’s war machine, protection of civilians under occupation, and full accountability for every crime.

As Foreign Minister of Ukraine Andrii Sybiha stated earlier this year: “Standing with Ukraine is not charity.

It is an investment in a world where borders are not redrawn by force, where aggression has consequences, and where resilience prevails over terror.

Ukraine stands.

And as long as we stand, the principles of freedom and sovereignty stand with us.”

I thank you, Mr. Chairperson.