OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation N°1090 Vienna, 9 October 2024

EU Statement on Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine

1. Mr Chair, every week, we and other speakers in this forum sadly recount with deep sorrow the ever increasing number of innocent victims since Russia started its fullscale war of aggression against Ukraine over two and a half years ago. Just last Friday, three civilian victims of Russian shelling were reported and each day, the number of fatalities, both civilian and military personnel, increases. Even as the shocking death toll grows, one cannot become accustomed to regularly and routinely hearing of these atrocities. There is immense and unspeakable human suffering behind all of these numbers and as the winter approaches such overwhelming and terrible torment will become even greater, for all the people of Ukraine.

2. The EU and its Member States condemn Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine in the strongest possible terms and admire the courage and resilience of both Ukrainian civilians and soldiers who are resolutely protecting their homeland. We emphasise that there will be no impunity for atrocities committed and all perpetrators will be held to account.

3. Another expression that we and others often refer to in this Forum, that of Ukraine’s ‘internationally recognised borders’, seems to have lost its meaning to one participating State. The Crimean Peninsula, Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia are all part of the integral territory of Ukraine, despite the attempts of the Russian Federation to illegally occupy and annex these territories as well as intervening in the internal affairs of its sovereign neighbour.

4. Today’s Security Dialogue on the Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security and the interventions made strongly underscored that we do have principles, rules and agreements that every participating State has committed to, a solid international framework built and developed over decades. However, we know that one participating State clearly ignores international law and OSCE commitments, and adheres neither to the Code of Conduct itself, nor to the Helsinki Final Act. As such Russia is not only waging a devastating and inexplicable war on a sovereign country but is challenging the rules-based international order. If Russia was to respect its own already existing commitments, it would end its war today.

5. Through its unacceptable and dangerous nuclear rhetoric, by regularly alluding to the use of nuclear weapons in a war of aggression it has itself started, Russia also acts in stark contradiction to the commitments of which it has undertaken to be a guardian.

6. Mr Chair, the EU and its Member States reiterate that Russia must immediately stop its unprovoked, unjustifiable and illegal war of aggression, put an end to this unbearable suffering and devastation caused by Russia, and completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its forces and military equipment from the entire territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders. We also strongly condemn the continued military support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine provided by Belarus, as well as the DPRK and Iran, with the recent transfer of Iranian-made ballistic missiles to Russia being a direct threat to European security and representing a further substantive material escalation from the provision of Iranian UAVs and ammunition. We urge all countries not to provide any material or support for Russia’s war of aggression, which is a blatant violation of international law, including the UN Charter, and the OSCE core principles and commitments.

Thank you.