Mr. Chairperson,  

On July 24, the russian military shelled the city of Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region with cluster munition.

As a result, a 10-year-old boy killed on the spot.

Four more children, aged 5 to 12, were wounded.

Two of the wounded were sisters.

Two days ago, one of the girls died in the hospital.  

No use of cluster munition, as russian diplomats recently claimed?

And just last Thursday I quoted the OSCE’s reports, including from the ODIHR and Moscow Mechanism mission, about the use of cluster munition by russia in densely populated areas.

And again, we see the repetition of this crime.

Likewise, on July 21, 9 and 16 years old children killed in Toretsk, also Donetsk region.

They died under the rubble of their home, which was destroyed by the russian artillery fire.

At the same time, Ukrainian families have to leave their homes in the border areas of the Sumy region due to russia’s constant shelling.

Recently, the evacuation of children was announced from ten settlements adjacent to the border in the Kharkiv region.

These areas are not safe because of russia’s artillery barrage.  

Yesterday, russia again rained Ukraine with its missile in attempts to terrorize our people.

33 Kh-101/Kh-555 cruise missiles and 3 Kalibr cruise missiles were shot down.

As proved many times, russia respects no rules of international humanitarian law, neither moral norms.  

In two days, it will be one year since russia committed one of the most heinous violations of law.

In the night of July 29 at least 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war were deliberately killed at Olenivka in the Donetsk region.

As a year passed, the UNHCR confirmed, something we knew from the very beginning, that the crime was not caused by a HIMARS rocket, as claimed by the russian diplomats in this Council last August.

In the meantime, the russian federation, in violation of its IHL obligations, continues a mock trial against 18 defenders of Mariupol and now prisoners of war in Rostov-on-Don.

This case is just a part of russia’s dehumanization campaign against Ukrainians

So, we call on the ODIHR to closely follow the case. These people must be released.  

Likewise, I would like to reiterate my call from the last PC meeting concerning civil hostages.

No other modern conflict has seen such scale of crime, as russia is holding thousands of civilian hostages. 

We urgently require new international instruments to punish civilian abductions and ensure the safe return of civilian hostages.  

Also, a map of places of illegal detention, presented to us by a Ukrainian NGO just in May, should not become just another research.

It must be a basis for further actions by the OSCE, including the ODIHR and CPC.

The case of Dmytro Khyliuk, a Ukrainian journalist, is telling in this regard.

He was abducted in his family’s home in the Kyiv region back in March 2022, on the second week of russia’s invasion.

As it was recently established by the Reporters without Borders, Dmytro is alive and was kept in the Pre-trial Detention Centre No.2 in Novozybkov.

Now he is in one of the prisons in the Vladimir region, located a few hundred kilometers east of Moscow.  

It is not surprising that the Russian authorities deny holding him.

But we cannot allow these people to be just lost by russia as they are moved from one place to another.

This crime must be kept in the light. This will save lives and return freedom to people.

Neither should we allow russia to rub the scene of its crimes clean.

Here the case of Olenivka, which I mentioned, stands alone.

As stated by UN Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Türk, russia provided neither satisfactory assurances about secure access for the United Nations to visit the particular site, nor granted general requests by the UN Human Rights Office to access areas of Ukraine under the temporary military control of the russian federation.

But didn’t russia promise to provide such access?

Didn’t the russian president ask for a thorough investigation?

This case of Olenivka is quite illustrative of russia’s traditional tactics – first, commit a crime, then blame others and ask for an investigation and then do nothing.  

Because russia’s goal is not to establish truth, bring responsible to account and restore justice.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t commit crimes on such scales, they wouldn’t dehumanize Ukrainians on russian TV, and they wouldn’t breed hatred within the russian society towards the Ukrainian state and the West.

The only thing moscow wants is to sow doubt, to return “bothsidesism” to our statements and force us to believe that not everything is so obvious as the truth is somewhere in between.   

Haven’t we seen this many times?

Wasn’t the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam the latest example?

Likewise, russia denies any wrongdoing in the occupied ZNPP and blames Ukraine.

However, let’s take mine, as Ukraine warned.

Now the IAEA team has identified mines located in a buffer zone between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers.

According to Director General Grossi, “having such explosives on the site is inconsistent with the IAEA safety standards and nuclear security guidance and creates additional psychological pressure on plant staff”.

Nevertheless, the IAEA still has no access to the roofs of the ZNPP’s reactors and their turbine halls, including units 3 and 4 which are of particular interest.

The team was also not able to visit all areas in the turbine hall, while visiting the reactor unit 6.

All this proves that as long as russia occupies the plant, the nuclear safety will be challenge.

Therefore, russia must leave the plant. 

Dear colleagues,

During the last meeting of the Permanent Council, the russian envoy promised to deliver a detailed version of events that happened in Odesa last Sunday.

As it was the case in the past with Olenivka, Kakhovka Dam, ZNPP, cluster munition, denial russia’s plans to attack Ukraine, the aim would be the same – to challenge the truth, justify the attack and whitewash war criminals.

But before the russian statement is delivered, I want to quote russian top propagandist Solovyev who praised the attacks on Odesa and the region saying that “We [russians] will demolish everything in Odesa, the entire port infrastructure, and then we will restore everything, in the “russian city” of Odesa”.

The ruins of Spaso-Preobrazhenskyy Cathedral, the damaged UNESCO-protected centre of Odesa, burnt grain silos prove that russia really plans to do that. 

Even this night, russians again damaged the port infrastructure and killed one person with the Kalibr missiles.

The fate of Mariupol, Bakhmut, Volnovakha, Avdiivka, Popasna, Mariinka and other cities proves that russia will at least try to do that.

The attacks on Danube ports indicate that russia can decide to escalate the situation even more by conducting a false flag operation against civilian vessels in the Black Sea in order to impose its intended blockade.

However, these attempts to impose blockade will fail, for sure, if we together undertake appropriate measures to defend the freedom of navigation and global right to food.

Not only Ukrainians, but also people in need around the globe expect the resoluteness and decisiveness from us.   

I want also to recall what was stated by the Lithuanian delegation two days ago, that “russian statements justifying this war of aggression, as well as numerous genocidal war crimes, are not written and delivered by themselves.

There is always someone, who deliberately writes them, and someone, who consciously delivers them”.

They know what they do.

They are ready to misuse principles and symbols of respected and established international organizations to cover crimes as russia did by detaining the OSCE SMM staff as well as the Belarus Red Cross did in assisting russia with the deportation of Ukrainian children.

They know that this is wrong and there will be responsibility.

And the pattern of crimes that russia continues unabated, by instructing its diplomats to justify and whitewash the war, proves that there would be no miracle. Russia will not stop unless it is stopped.

And we have all means to stop russia. We know how to do that. With sanctions. With weapons. With ending russia’s impunity.

This is what can bring russia back to the common sense. 

In conclusion, I want to thank Italy for recognizing the 1932-1933 Holodomor as genocide of the Ukrainian people. This contributes to our efforts aimed to end russia’s impunity. 

As Minister Kuleba stated, “this important step restores historical justice, honors millions of victims, and warns future generations against the crime of genocide”.   

I thank you, Mr. Chair.