Assistant Secretary-General for
Europe, Central Asia and the Americas Miroslav Jenča's
Remarks at the Security Council meeting on Ukraine
New York, 27 November 2024
Madam President,
Only last week, Under-Secretary-General DiCarlo, on behalf of the Secretary-General, recounted the horrific toll the 1,000 days of Russia’s full-scale invasion have brought to the people of Ukraine. The invasion that was launched in gross violation of the UN Charter and international law.
Yet, in recent days we have seen alarming signs of further escalation in this already explosive war.
The latest developments follow the already disturbing reports of troops from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea being deployed to the conflict zone.
On 21 November, the Ukrainian city of Dnipro was hit by a ballistic intermediate-range Russian missile. The location hit was reportedly an industrial area southwest of Dnipro city.
According to the Ukrainian authorities, the missile was equipped with six warheads, each with six sub-munitions, and took only 15 minutes to arrive from the launch site in the Astrakhan region of the Russian Federation, some 1,000 kilometers away from Dnipro city.
Hours after the strike, the President of the Russian Federation confirmed that Russia had tested a new conventional intermediate-range missile called “Oreshnik”. He said that the strike was launched in response to the use of Western supplied long-range missiles by the armed forces of Ukraine against the territory of the Russian Federation.
He further stated that Russia would continue testing the new missile in combat.
Yesterday, Russian authorities signaled the likelihood of further such strikes, following additional reported Ukrainian strikes on Russian military targets using the above-mentioned long-range missiles.
The United Nations does not have additional details on these incidents, including on the type of weapons used. However, the use of ballistic missiles and related threats are a very dangerous escalatory development.
Under international humanitarian law, parties are required to “take all feasible precautions in the choice of means and methods of attack with a view to avoiding, and in any event to minimizing, incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects”.
We condemn all attacks on civilian targets and critical infrastructure - irrespective of the weapons system used.
We urge all parties to take immediate steps to de-escalate and to refrain from any action or rhetoric that could further intensify this war, bring more suffering to the civilian population and gravely endanger regional and international peace and security.
Madam President,
Amid these concerning reports, systematic Russian aerial strikes have continued to wreak havoc across Ukraine.
Just yesterday, Russia reportedly launched 188 drones against seventeen regions of Ukraine. This was reportedly the record number of drones deployed in a single attack.
Since February 2022, at least 12,162 civilians have been killed and 26,919 injured in Ukraine, according to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
In addition to civilian casualties, relentless attacks hitting residential areas continue to cause severe damage to civilian infrastructure, further deteriorating the living conditions for millions of Ukrainians.
Madam President,
The cost of this war is already too high for the people of Ukraine, and for the world – and it is growing by the day.
We must reverse the dangerous cycle of escalation.
This requires genuine political will and inclusive diplomatic efforts towards a just, lasting and comprehensive peace, in line with the UN Charter, international law and General Assembly resolutions.
We stand ready to use our good offices and to make available all our tools and experience to this end.
Thank you.