I thank the Chair and members for inviting me. I am honoured to be here for the first time to address the distinguished members of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence on the threats that the Russian Federation poses to Ukraine and Europe in its entirety.
On behalf of the Government of Ukraine, I extend words of appreciation for Ireland’s support that we are receiving at this unprecedentedly challenging time for my country. Ireland has always been a reliable partner of Ukraine both on a bilateral level and in international fora. We successfully co-operated on a number of UN resolutions, including those on human rights in Crimea, militarisation of the peninsula and the security situation in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov.
We are also grateful to Ireland for its advocacy efforts on the UN Security Council. The strong statements delivered by the Irish diplomats within this body for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine are of utmost importance to us. Ireland’s non-recognition policy of the illegal occupation of Crimea, which is also included in Programme for Government: Our Shared Future, is another demonstration of its unwavering stance in this respect.
On 23 August last year, two major events took place in Kyiv. The first one was the Crimea Platform summit attended by all EU member states, including Ireland, which was represented by the Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney. The summit was an important first step towards the de-occupation of Crimea, aimed at returning the peninsula to the rule of law and respect for human rights under sovereignty of Ukraine.
I will avail of this opportunity to submit the appeal of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on strengthening international co-operation within the framework of the Crimea Platform in the parliamentary dimension. I would appreciate if the Chairperson would share the appeal with the members of the committee. We look forward to EU-wide engagement in developing the Crimea Platform activities.
The second milestone event was the opening of the embassy of Ireland to Ukraine that has provided new opportunities for strengthening bilateral ties. It is my duty and need to fully update the Members of the Oireachtas on what is going on in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine in Crimea and Donbas, as well as along the border of Ukraine, where the Russian Federation continues its military build-up. For the eighth consecutive year, Ukraine has been countering external armed aggression from its neighbour.
Approximately 7% of the territory of Ukraine remains under foreign occupation in blatant violation of the UN Charter and international law. More than 14,000 people have been killed, more than 30,000 wounded and more than 1.5 million internally displaced. These are the consequences of this aggression, which Russia sells to the world as so-called internal conflict in Ukraine. We also keep the memory of 298 passengers of the MH17 flight, including one Irish national, killed as a result of the terrorist attack on 17 July 2014, when the plane was shot down by the Russian servicemen using the Buk missile system.
Unfortunately, the facts indicate that Russia intends to continue its odious policy of hatred. According to the latest estimations, the Russian contingent of armed forces totals approximately 119,000 troops, amassed around Ukraine’s borders and in Crimea. Ukraine, in accordance with the Vienna document on confidence and security building measures, requested the detailed explanation on the objectives of the military activity conducted in close proximity to the state border of Ukraine and in the temporarily-occupied Crimea.
However, due to Russia's failure to explain its action and military movements in a transparent manner, on 13 February, Ukraine requested a meeting with Russia and all participating states within 48 hours to discuss its reinforcement and redeployment along our border and in Crimea. As the foreign minister, Mr. Kuleba, said: "If Russia is serious when it talks about the indivisibility of security in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, space, it must fulfill its commitment to military transparency in order to de-escalate tensions and enhance security for all." We are worried about the coincidence of time and place of the above-mentioned build up of Russian forces at the Ukrainian border with joint Russian-Belarusian operational drills called allied resolve 2022 in the territory of Belarus and the massive Black Sea drills, which assembled almost one third of all acting warships of the Russian navy, including numerous landing crafts. Overall, the Russian defence ministry announced the conduct of the navy military exercises simultaneously in the Mediterranean, North and Okhotsk seas and in the Pacific and Atlantic, sabre-rattling and threatening even countries with traditional military neutrality.
Another alarming trend is a significant reinforcement of combat capabilities of the Russian occupation forces in Donbas. Currently, these formations comprise up to 35,000 personnel, including approximately 3,000 servicemen of the Russian armed forces on command posts and in other critical combat positions. Russia's decision not to extend the mandate of the OSCE border observer mission at the Russian checkpoints in Gukovo and Donetsk shows that Moscow’s main interest inheres in the use of its sole control over both sides of the 409 km segment of the state border between Russia and Ukraine in order to keep supplying weapons, military equipment, ammunition, regular troops and mercenaries to the temporarily-occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions unimpeded.
Despite the fact that last December, the trilateral contact group, TCG, reached another understanding on resuming the ceasefire regime, shootings, shelling and sniper fire on Ukrainian positions and systematic use of attack unmanned combat area vehicles, UAVs, against Ukrainian troops have not ceased. Meanwhile, freedom of movement of the OSCE special monitoring mission, SMM, continues to be restricted in the non-government-controlled territories of Ukraine. These realities are recorded in the numerous reports of the mission and are made publicly available on the mission's website.
We consider utterly unacceptable any withdrawal of SMM personnel by seconding states at this critical moment, since Moscow might use it as ground for shutting the SMM down. Thus, I urge Ireland to keep its mission members who are already on the ground and even to look into the possibility to strengthen the SMM by increasing the number of the monitors.
To our deep sorrow, since December last year, six servicemen been killed in action and more than 21 servicemen have been wounded. Most recently, on 25 January, the illegal armed formations of the Russian Federation once again attacked the positions of the armed forces of Ukraine in the area of Pyshchevyk in the Donetsk region, using an UAV. VOG-17 fragmentation grenades dropped from that UAV resulted in severe injuries to two Ukrainian servicemen and, on 2 February, the same firing was recorded in the entry and exit checkpoint near Hnutove in the same region, which serves as a humanitarian corridor. Unfortunately, the number of ceasefire violations committed by illegal military formations continues to increase. The latest were reported by the OSCE SMM just yesterday.
It is no surprise, then, that Russia refuses to take meaningful steps to launch new entry and exit checkpoints, although Ukraine has made all the preparations for the opening of Zolote and Shchastya checkpoints in line with the decision of the Normandy Four leaders reached in Paris on 9 December 2019. The prospect of a mutual release of the conflict-related detainees has also come to a halt, despite the previous agreement on this matter and numerous requests from Ukraine, as well as lists of the illegally-detained persons for the exchange submitted by our delegation in the TCG to the Russian side.
All this is accompanied by Russia's stubborn denial of being a party to the armed conflict, attempts to impose a so-called direct dialogue with its puppet occupation administrations and refusal to engage in substantive discussion to implement a peaceful solution to the conflict.
The Russian Parliament appealed this morning to President Putin to recognise the independence of temporarily recognised territories in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. If the Kremlin adopts such a decision then Russia will de facto and de jure withdraw from the Minsk Protocol agreement with all its repercussions. We have already warned our partners about this. I call on the Houses of the Oireachtas to issue a motion condemning the above-mentioned appeal by Russia's state Duma.
Dear members of the committee, Russian aggression has not only military but also has economic and financial dimensions. Russia is investing enormous efforts to undermine the economic and financial stability of Ukraine. Another proof of this is Russia's decision to hold military drills in the Black Sea region while in parallel disabling the international navigation and fisheries in the Black Sea and Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait. Such activities also block access by merchant vessels to and from Ukrainian ports.
We have already initiated contacts with our partners, including those in the Black Sea region, in order to ensure that Russia’s aggressive actions that are part of its hybrid warfare against Ukraine receive an appropriate international assessment and response. We also remain in close contact with partners to explore new ways of additional support to ensure economic and financial stability in Ukraine. It is obvious that Russia’s latest actions are aimed not only against Ukraine but can be viewed in a much wider context.
Russia uses gas, including the Nord Stream 2 project, as a weapon to aggravate the energy crisis in Europe. It used migrants as a weapon to escalate tensions on the Belarus border with Lithuania and Poland. On top of that, it increases cyberattacks in an attempt to destabilise the domestic situation in Ukraine and beyond. All those elements are part of Russia’s plan to seriously destabilise Europe. In the worst-case scenario, Russia may try to undermine the entire post-Cold War security architecture in Europe and redraw borders in Europe by force again, as it already did in 2008 in Georgia and in 2014, by occupying Ukraine’s Crimea and unleashing the war in Donbas.
We also see a surge in the Russian disinformation campaign, including false accusations of Ukraine's plotting a military attack in Donbas. Let me reiterate: Ukraine does not plan any military offensive action in Donbas. We are committed to seeking a political and diplomatic solution to the Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict. Ukraine wants peace, security and stability not only for itself, but also for all of Europe. Together with additional military support from our western partners, as well as with increased diplomatic and economic pressure on Russia, Ukraine is ready to defend itself. We are willing to keep diplomatic engagement with Russia open on various tracks and in various formats. We are ready to resume the Normandy Four talks in all formats, including at the level of the leaders and foreign ministers. The political advisers' meeting on 26 January in Paris showed many differences in the parties' positions concerning the implementation of the Minsk agreements. At the same time, the consultations showed the potential for further dialogue on the settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian international armed conflict. Regretfully, during their most recent meeting on 10 February in Berlin these differences persisted and no agreement was reached on any documents or statements. However, the participants in that meeting expressed determination to meet again for the next session of the trilateral contact group.
Dear Members of the Oireachtas, to conclude my remarks, I would like to stress again that Ukraine is committed to justice, peace and security not only for itself but for the whole of the Euro-Atlantic community. The future of the global security architecture is being decided in Ukraine but the ability of the coalition of the democratic states to take on the current threats and challenges in Ukraine will have a direct impact on their own future. We count on continued pressure on Russia from our partners. We need a clear message that the Kremlin’s plans will not work, and continuation of aggression will be met with a devastating response from the West and a multiplied support for Ukraine. I thank the committee so much.
