Mister Chairperson / Madam Chairperson,   

At the outset, I would like to express our gratitude to all the Ambassadors and colleagues who have visited Ukraine this week.

We are grateful to the OSCE Chairpersonship and Secretariat for organizing this visit of solidarity which demonstrated unwavering support for Ukraine.  

The visit also provided an opportunity to obtain first-hand information about the destruction caused by Russia’s war and to explore how the OSCE can contribute further to addressing its consequences.

Unfortunately, the human cost of Russia’s war continues to rise as Moscow focuses on hostilities instead of accepting a full and comprehensive ceasefire.

The ceasefire offered by the US. And agreed by Ukraine.

Instead, Russia is systematically striking peaceful Ukrainian cities.

According to a recent OHCHR report, 968 civilians were killed and 4,807 were injured between 1 December 2024 and 31 May 2025.

It amounts to a 37 per cent increase compared with the same period last year.

The use by Russia of explosive weapons with wide area effect in urban areas across Ukraine, and the increased use of short-range combat drones is the main driver behind these figures.

As reported, missiles, loitering munitions, and air-dropped bombs accounted for 46 per cent of civilian casualties in Ukraine, most of them in urban areas.

Unfortunately, Russia continues these attacks unabated.

On 29 June Russia again attacked Ukraine with 477 drones and 60 missiles of various types.

This attack caused injuries to civilians and significant damage to infrastructure in the Lviv, Poltava, Cherkasy, Mykolaiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Khmelnytskyi, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Furthermore, Russia launched over 3,000 Shahed drones against Ukraine in June alone.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, this figure has exceeded 29,000.

In order to cause maximum casualties, Russia is systematically using cluster munitions.  

As of 26 June, at least 5, 974 such cases had been documented.

During the reporting period, OHCHR registered, at least, three attacks, in which Russian forces deployed missiles with fragmentation warheads that detonated above ground, scattering fragments across large open areas and killing 52 civilians (20 men, 21 women, 9 boys and 2 girls) and injuring 270 others (155 women, 84 men, 16 girls and 15 boys).

Staggering numbers for just three attacks.

By using such explosive weapons, like missiles, drones and bombs, as well cluster munitions, Russia deliberately creates conditions kill or wound as many civilians as possible. Including children.  

In addition to these indiscriminate attacks, Russia is carrying out a genocidal policy against Ukrainian children.  

We are grateful to as Special Rapporteur of the OSCE PA Parliamentary Support Team for Ukraine for shedding light on this crime in her recent report on Russian abductions and deportations of Ukrainian children.

The forced russification and military indoctrination of Ukrainian children are examples of Russian imperialism, which aims to both annex Ukrainian territory and erase a generation of Ukrainians.

The recent decision of the Russian occupation administration to ban the study of the Ukrainian language in schools in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine stands as yet another manifestation of Moscow’s genocidal policy.

Let me also remind, that Russia attempted to ban the Ukrainian language over 130 times during the centuries of its occupation. Moscow failed then, and it will again.

Russia systematically manipulates language issues to justify its aggression and pursues a deliberate policy of Russification, assimilation and the genocidal extermination of entire peoples, as well as the oppression of other cultures and the suppression of national identity.

This Russian hatred, chauvinism and xenophobia is not only directed at Ukraine.   

The OHCHR report also documented a growing number of cases, when Russians “contacted children in Ukraine over social media and offered them money to commit acts of sabotage, including through acts of arson and deployment of improvised explosive devices, against Ukrainian military targets and civilians”.

Some of these acts have resulted in the those same children being killed or injured.

This raises the issue again of Russia's use of social networks to radicalize minors and young people.

We expect the OSCE to pay special attention to these crimes committed by the Russian authorities, which are nothing less than state-sponsored terrorism.  

Esteemed colleagues,     

Not only the killing of civilians reveals Russia’s true intentions.

During the so-called St Peterburg economic forum Vladimir Putin was even more outspoken about his plans to seize more Ukrainian territory.

I quote – “I consider the Russian and Ukrainian peoples to be one people. In this sense, all of Ukraine is ours […] Wherever a Russian soldier sets foot is ours”. End of quote.

However, as Minister Sybiha said, “In reality, wherever a Russian soldier sets foot, he brings along only death, destruction, and devastation […] Putin does not care about Russian soldiers or their feet torn apart by Ukrainian drones. He is a mass murderer of his own people. He already disposed one million Russian soldiers in a senseless bloodbath in Ukraine without achieving a single strategic goal. One million soldiers. Two million feet”.

So, do we need more such statements, senseless killings and indiscriminate destructions to be finally convinced that Russia does not want peace? That Putin needs this war to camouflage the complete failure of his quarter-century rule? That Moscow’s war can only be stopped through our strength?

The only way to force Russia into peace is to deprive it of its means of killing and its feeling of impunity.

Therefore, we welcome the signing of an agreement between Ukraine and the Council of Europe on the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine in The Hague.

The Special Tribunal is the first international judicial body since World War II with the power to investigate and prosecute anyone suspected of committing the crime of aggression, regardless of their position.

The Tribunal will complement the existing international criminal justice system.

This step also demonstrates that accountability is inevitable.

At the same time, strong and resolute actions are needed to stop the hostilities as soon as possible.  

New sanctions against the Russian economy and industry, particularly its defense sector, energy, banking system, is a necessity to deprive Russia of the means to kill. 

Additional steps are also needed to fix loopholes that Russia is using to circumvent sanctions.

We are therefore grateful to Slovenia, as Chair of the EEC, and to the Finnish Chairpersonship for facilitating a comprehensive discussion on Russia’s shadow fleet last Friday.

The acceleration of air defence system and ammunition supplies to Ukraine is also an effective way to protect human lives.   

Such steps will force Russia to abandon its ultimatums and engage in true and constructive talks that would bring us to a just, comprehensive and lasting peace for Ukraine and Europe.

A peace that guarantees the restoration of respect for the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of participating States, allowing them to freely decide on their future, as provided for in the Helsinki Final Act.

I thank you.