On September 4, upon instructions from Minister Andrii Sybiha, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Mariana Betsa addressed the UN General Assembly in New York at a high-level debate on the agenda item “The Situation in the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine”.

At the outset, Mariana Betsa thanked the UN Member States for their consistent support for Ukraine in the General Assembly since 2014, emphasizing that this solidarity is of particular importance in the year of the 80th anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter.

In her address, the Deputy Minister emphasized the unprecedented suffering of Ukrainians, large-scale violations of international law by Russia, and the need for a decisive international response to the crimes of the aggressor.

Key messages from Mariana Betsa’s speech:

• Russia continues the war: on September 2–3 alone, almost 500 drones and 20 missiles were launched at Ukrainian cities. Russia’s goal has not changed: to destroy Ukraine and the Ukrainian nation.
• Explosions and shelling do not stop: each occupied territory becomes a springboard for a new offensive. The consequences of the occupation are the suffering of civilians, torture, child abduction, persecution on religious grounds, mass murder.
• The war is particularly devastating for children: since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, at least 648 children have been killed, more than 2,100 have been wounded, and millions are suffering trauma and disrupted education.
• Russia has deported at least 20,000 children; Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children is an act of genocide; the International Criminal Court has already issued arrest warrants for Putin and Lvova-Belova. Russia’s accountability is inevitable.
• Children are not negotiable. Every Ukrainian child stolen by Russia must be returned - without conditions, without delay. A state that abducts and kills children has no right to hide behind the UN flag of peace.
• Ukraine is committed to a peaceful settlement, but only through force and international pressure can the aggressor stop the killings.
• Every temporarily occupied territory remains sovereign Ukrainian territory, including Crimea.
• Russia seeks to destroy Ukrainian identity and remain unpunished, and if it is not stopped, the war may expand to other countries.
• Russia is not winning its own aggressive war and has not achieved its goals; now it is trying to buy time.
• Occupation is not peace. Accepting occupation is capitulation and weakness; it conceals suffering and fuels the next attack. Ukraine will never agree to this.
• Peace through strength is the only way: political, military and economic pressure must stop Russia's killing machine.
• Crimea has been turned into an open-air prison; Crimean Tatars and all those who resist live under daily terror.
• Russia holds Europe’s largest nuclear power plant hostage. The occupation is turning the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant into a time bomb for the entire continent; only Ukraine can guarantee its security.
• Real peace requires real security guarantees - legally binding, equivalent to NATO’s Article 5, covering land, sea and sky. Anything less is an invitation to Russia’s next war.
• Ukraine defends the freedom, sovereignty and lives of its people. Every step is proof that a nation fighting for its people is invincible. Peace and security are possible only when justice is stronger than terror, and the aggressor and occupier are left with no chance for impunity.