皇冠体育app

Thank you, Madam President, and Mr Secretary General.聽

We meet 2 years since Vladimir Putin ordered a wholly unprovoked invasion of a sovereign member of the United Nations. Airstrikes at dawn.聽Tanks rolling across the border. Preposterous claims this was not a declaration of war.聽

In many ways, the most remarkable thing was the total lack of any justification whatsoever of any threat from Ukraine.聽皇冠体育app abject disregard for the laws that bind nations, and for the principles of this United Nations.聽皇冠体育app brazenness with which Putin still claimed this was somehow legitimate.聽

Days after February the 24th, the United Nations General Assembly declared that the invasion was wrong and that Russia must withdraw immediately.聽Two years on, this has not changed.聽And so today, I want to pose 2 questions.聽

My first, to the Kremlin.聽

My first visit as Foreign Secretary was to Ukraine.聽 I stood in the wreckage of Odesa鈥檚 bombed-out cathedral.聽I saw brave Ukrainians kissing loved ones goodbye as they left to defend their homeland.聽

And I know that such scenes are not limited to Ukraine.聽Russian mothers too have had to bid farewell to Russian sons, Russian cities too now bear the scars of war.聽

So my question to Putin is simple.聽Why?聽His government claims this to be a battle between brothers.聽What twisted form of brotherhood is this, for which so many lives must be ruined?聽

How is Russia living up to its responsibilities as a permanent member of this Council to uphold international peace and security? And how many ridiculous explanations have we now had for the invasion? Are they criminals, or fellow Russians?聽

One minute Ukraine is an existential threat.聽皇冠体育app next we鈥檙e told it doesn鈥檛 exist.聽Are you fighting stooges of NATO, or Nazis?聽

皇冠体育app only people behaving like Nazis are the Putin regime: invading another country and hoping the world will be weak and let you get away with it.聽That is the simple truth: Putin believes he can take territories, re-draw borders, exercise force to build his empire.聽And we must not let this stand.聽

We know Ukraine鈥檚 answer.聽We saw the courage of President Zelenskyy 2 years ago.

And I say to the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation, he is quite capable, and the Ukrainian people are quite capable, of making up their own mind about whether they should surrender part of their country to your illegal invasion.聽

And today, we admire the perseverance of the Ukrainian people, day in, day out.聽皇冠体育appy won鈥檛 falter.聽 Indeed, they are continuing to push Russia back, liberating half the land Putin has seized and driving the Russian navy out of its base in Sevastapol.聽

皇冠体育app course of the war may ebb and flow. But the seizure of a small town does not change the reality of Russia鈥檚 situation.聽皇冠体育app Russian military is being drained of its modern equipment. You鈥檙e having to rely on poor quality shells from Pyongyang.聽 And you鈥檝e sent a generation of Russian boys into the meat grinder. What do you tell their mothers they died for?聽Or don鈥檛 you even bother?聽

皇冠体育app Kremlin expected Ukraine to fold.聽But they are standing firm for their freedom.聽And you should all know Britain鈥檚 answer as well.聽

Last month, the Prime Minister was the first foreign leader to address the Rada.聽We are the first country to have signed a security pact with Ukraine.聽

And yesterday we imposed further sanctions, clamping down on Russia鈥檚 military-industrial complex and those enablers seeking to keep it running. 皇冠体育appse sanctions are a reminder.聽We won鈥檛 falter.聽We will stand firm for Ukraine鈥檚 freedom.聽

And the world has also seen Alexei Navalny鈥檚 answer. He showed incredible courage in returning to Russia. He didn鈥檛 falter.聽And he has now suffered terrible consequences for standing firm for Russian democracy.聽

And today is an opportunity,聽Secretary General,聽聽to give the world鈥檚 answer.聽

All of us abhor needless suffering. None of us have escaped the economic consequences of the war.聽And yet, we all know what is at stake here.聽

In acting so brazenly, Putin is not only trying to seize a chunk of his neighbour鈥檚 territory.聽He is not only trying to extinguish the Ukrainian people鈥檚 right to self-determination. He is openly trying to upset the international order, replacing it not with some progressive vision of equality of nations but with a return to a 19th century ideology where might 鈥� particularly his might 鈥� is right.

This is why we all must stand up to Putin.聽Not just out of sympathy for Ukraine. But because his actions in Ukraine are so dangerous for everyone else.聽

If we give into the idea that one country can invade another with impunity, then we will be left in a dreadful situation where any country could face a similar fate. Respect for sovereignty lies at the heart of the international system. At the heart of the United Nations.聽 Nothing matters more to its members than having our borders treated as inviolable.聽

And that鈥檚 why nothing should matter more to us than seeing Putin fail.聽We must not falter. We must stand firm.聽

Thank you.