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ADDRESS BY H.E. IHOR PROKOPCHUK, AMBASSADOR OF UKRAINE,

AT THE OPENING SESSION OF EURO-ATLANTIC RESILIENCE FORUM 2023

Bucharest, 28.09.2023

 

Distinguished Ministers,

Excellencies,

Distinguished participants of the Forum,

 

It is my pleasure and honour to participate in this important event – Euro-Atlantic Resilience Forum 2023. I sincerely thank for the invitation. At the very outset I would also like to express my profound gratitude to all, who have supported and continue to support Ukraine with firmness and a sense of common purpose.

Today marks 582 days since the start of russia's full-scale and brutal invasion into Ukraine. This existential threat has made the Ukrainian nation to be the symbol of a courageous struggle in defence of its independence and sovereignty, of freedom and democracy as well as the symbol of RESILIENCE. Resilience of the people, the government and military, economy, energy sector, cyber space and other domains.

Ukraine has convincingly proved the essence of stability and resilience – i.e. that defense and functioning of the state is a matter which concerns all citizens. 

The russians failed to achieve their objectives of conquering Ukraine within a few days as they had planned. Failing in combat, they launched a systematic campaign of terrorising the civilian population and targeting critical energy infrastructure and other civilian infrastructure facilities.

In the winter season of 2022-2023, russia carried out 33 massive missile attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure facilities, with about 270 hits recorded. 24 generation facilities (mostly power plants), half of the transmission system substations, and trunk power grids were affected. Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy system caused losses worth >11 bln USD, according to the assessment by UNDP and WB.

We have numerous indications that russia will try to repeat its terror against Ukraine’s energy sector. We appreciate all the assistance provided by countries around the globe last winter and look forward to similar support in the forthcoming winter season. The Government of Ukraine and allied countries have allocated 2.3 bln USD to restore and protect the energy sector. Preparation for the heating season is entering its final stage.

Ukraine and Ukrainians have shown their strong will in terms of resilience, coping with long hours of black-outs, but our collective efforts and investment are needed to ease the pressure on the civilian population. Strengthening Ukraine’s air defense to protect energy facilities from Russia’s attacks must be a critical part of these efforts.

Ukraine has set an example of transport system resilience. As russia's forces invaded Ukraine, the railways operator "Ukrzaliznytsia" and its staff stood firm and focused helping evacuate more than five million people, including more than a million children, from the war zone.

As Russia withrew unilaterally from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, it turned food into a weapon by resorting to destruction of Ukraine’s port infrastructure and grain storage facilities with missile attacks. ~280,000 tons of grain, 105 port infrastructure facilities were damaged and partially destroyed since Russia withdrew from the BSGI. As a result of the attacks on the ports of the Danube cluster and the blocking of sea ports, the export of grain cargoes to the countries of Asia, Africa and Europe was reduced by almost 3 mln tons per month. Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s food export by sea clearly reveals its objective of endangering global food security, putting under severe risk countries dependent on Ukrainian agricultural products.

This is an area which demands sharp focus and resilience of Ukraine and the world community. It is necessary for all countries, especially those in Africa and Asia, which are most affected by rising food prices, to take joint global actions against Russia’s food terrorism. The BSGI should resume its work, but not at the expense of blackmail and fulfilling Russia's whims. Meanwhile, Ukraine is actively seeking alternative options, including by bringing into effect temporary routes for civilian vessels to/from the Black Sea ports of Ukraine.

Ukraine highly values close interaction with Romania in search of avenues for increase of transit capabilities. This is our joint contribution to the global food security. In this context we attach particular importance to fulfilling our common goal of increasing the transit of Ukrainian agricultural products from 2 to 4 mln tons per month.

Distinguished participants of the Forum,

Over 19 months of russia’s ongoing brutal war against Ukraine have been marked by horrible atrocities against civilians –terrorist tactics of targeting civilian housing, mass executions, torture and kidnappings, rapes, forcible deportation of thousands of Ukrainians to russia, including separation and deportation of children.

russia’s war against Ukraine has brought horrible destruction and devastation which has been estimated at 411 bln USD and is growing. The number of civilian infrastructure sites damaged or destroyed has exceeded 124,000.

Ukraine has become one of the most mined countries in the world – about one third of Ukraine's territory are potentially dangerous because of russian mines and UXO.

Yet these and other tragic and severe consequences have not undermined resolve and resilience of the Ukrainian people, their faith in the political leadership of President V.Zelenskii, in the Ukrainian defence forces, in the victory over the aggressor and in the nation’s democratic future.

Fighting against the aggressor, Ukraine is also making big strides in reforms to achieve the goals of joining the European Union and NATO. Steady progress towards accomplishment of these goals is an important component of Ukrainians’ confidence in the country’s future. We rely on support of our partners in achieving these goals.

Resilience of the Ukrainian nations is inextricably linked to the solidarity, unity and resilience of the world community in the face of the ongoing russian brutal aggression – we must together defend the founding principles of the UN charter and basic norms of international law. Ukraine needs the necessary military means to win this war, financial and economic support, we must more actively implement immediate reconstruction projects. Sanctions against russia work, but we must step up the sanctions pressure to deprive the russian regime of its revenues which finance the war of aggression.

I wish all participants of the Forum productive debates which will advance resilience in the Euro-Atlantic space and help us move closer to reestablishment of peace in this continent – a just and lasting peace underpinned by the basic principles of the United Nations Charter. The Peace Formula of President V.Zelenskii is a solid foundation for such peace.

Thank you for your attention!