Today, the attention of the entire world is focused on Ukraine. The massive build-up of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border, the false narratives suggesting that Ukraine is not worthy of being a fully independent state, and the repeated demands that Ukrainians be denied a voice in deciding their future should not be mistreated as Russia’s good intentions towards Ukraine and its sovereignty.
Amid Russia’s growing military presence near the state border of Ukraine and in the temporarily occupied territories, Russia attempts to undermine Ukraine’s economic and financial stability. The leadership of Ukraine, diplomacy and the armed forces have been making every effort to keep Ukraine stable and ready for various scenarios and any aggressive intentions against our country.
The comprehensive package of measures that Ukraine proposed last November in response to Russian military build-up along its border with Ukraine has become an effective tool in deterring the Russian Federation from further aggression.
During the recent weeks, Kyiv has literally become the epicenter of global diplomacy with more than twenty high-level foreign delegations visiting Ukraine to express their solidarity amid Russia’s aggressive actions. The President of Ukraine, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and other government officials have held about the same number of phone calls with their foreign counterparts. All our partners have made it very clear to Moscow: Russia will pay an unprecedentedly high price if it decides to launch a new military operation on Ukrainian territory.
Ukraine and its partners are closely working on de-escalation of the security situation and revival of political settlement of the armed conflict with Russia, primarily in the framework of the Normandy Format and Trilateral Contact Group (TCG). The Russian leadership must demonstrate political will and cease the destructive practice of undermining the TCG activities under various pretexts. The decisions that are long overdue from the Russian side include permanent ceasefire, withdrawal of forces and equipment, operationalization of the crossing points along the contact line, and mutual release of detainees. Normalization of the security situation and progress within the Trilateral Contact Group will pave the way towards unblocking other issues on the political settlement of the conflict.
Ukraine is not to be pushed to make concessions to Russia. Our partners are fully aware of the red lines that Ukraine will not cross. No compromises on Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, no direct dialogue will be held with the representatives of the Russian occupying administration in Donbas, and no third party shall have the right to decide Ukraine’s future. The negotiating positions of Ukraine and its partners are strong enough to make Russia de-escalate
the situation and implement its commitments.
The European Union has decided to set up a strong economic response in case Russia moves
to attempt invading Ukraine again. The new sanctions will cause severe damage to Russia’s economy, particularly in the financial sector. Ukraine also believes it is high time to extend the existing sanctions against Russia to hold it responsible for the ongoing destabilizing acts in Ukraine, such as cyber-attacks and granting Russian passports to those living in the temporarily occupied parts of Donbas.
The non-military dimension of Russian aggression has caused significant harm to the Ukrainian
economy. Massive disinformation and fake news in the media sow panic among Ukrainian citizens and businesses. Due to the crisis-management efforts by the Ukrainian government and increased financial support from our partners, the situation with the national currency has been stabilized. We remain in close contact with our partners to explore new ways of additional support to ensure economic and financial stability in Ukraine.
Strong Ukraine and its Armed Forces are a deterrence measure in themselves. If Russia realizes that it will face a strong response from the Ukrainian military, it will think twice before
going ahead with a new military offensive. In this context, we have worked closely with international partners on increasing our defensive capabilities.
We continue to work to reduce tensions and mobilize support from international partners to secure peace and the rule of international law. Ukraine is committed to justice, peace and security not only for itself, but for the whole Euro-Atlantic community. The future of the global security architecture is being decided in Ukraine, and 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 future.
In this regard Ukraine decided to activate the diplomatic tools, available within the OSCE. Ukraine officially applied the risk reduction mechanism in accordance with the Vienna Document (2011), which envisages that its signatories will exchange information on the location of military forces, increasing of their number, purpose and task of their additional deployment. Unfortunately, the Russian leadership didn’t give any clear answer within the provided 48 hours. Instead of this, Russia’s letter delivered a few hours after the deadline, contained the accusations of the Ukrainian side in escalation of the security situation in Donbas region. Due to disregarded inquiry, Ukraine convened a meeting with Russia and all other OSCE member states on February 15, 2022 to discuss the massive build-up of the Russian troops along the Ukrainian borders and in the temporarily occupied Crimea, but the representatives of the Russian Federation didn’t participate. It serves as a remarkable example of Russia’s unwillingness to fulfill any legally bounding commitments that do not comply with its present-day national ambitions.
Ukraine strongly believes in the possibility to settle the disputes in a peaceful way in order to lower the tensions and keep Russia staying on the diplomatic track. But according to reports of the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, on 17 February, 2022 were recorded 47 violations of the ceasefire regime by the Russian occupation forces, including the usage of weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements. Among the main targets were the social infrastructure facilities such as a kindergarten in Stanytsia Luhansk. Thus, three employees were severely injured. Moreover, the enemy’s forces fired artillery at the village of Vrubivka and
damaged the building of the local secondary school and the gas pipeline. It should be underlined that the Ukrainian soldiers opened fire in response to stop the provocative activities
only in case of a threat to lives of the military servicemen. Thanks to their efforts, the positions of the Ukrainian units remained unchanged. At the same time, by means of disinformation and propaganda, the Russian occupation administrations continue blaming the Armed Forces of Ukraine in shelling civilians.
In the context of the approval by the State Duma (Parliament) of the Russian Federation of the resolution on the appeal to the President to recognize so-called "Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics", the Ukrainian position remains unchanged: Russia’s recognition of so-called "LDPR" will mean its conscious withdrawal from the Minsk agreements. Such a step will be considered as a serious impact on the process of the diplomatic settlement, which Ukraine and its partners are now actively working on. The recognition of so-called "peoples republics", if happens, will not have any legal implications. Russia will not be able to pass off the Russian occupation administration in the temporarily occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk regions as "independent entities", nor to disguise its involvement as a party to the armed conflict in Donbas.
What happens in Ukraine is not only a matter of peace and security in Ukraine or Europe – the
foundational principles of the UN are at stake. It is impossible to stay away when a permanent member of the UN Security Council blatantly violates the principles of peaceful coexistence and makes robbery attacks on neighbors.
Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons in accordance with the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, with a clear message not to threaten our neighbors’ security. Pursuant to the Budapest Memorandum, the Russian Federation assumed an obligation to respect independence, sovereignty and existing borders of Ukraine in compliance with the principles of the Helsinki Final Act. No state should violate the territorial integrity, borders, and sovereignty of other States – exactly what Russia did in Ukraine in 2014.
Russia continues to threaten the security of not only Ukraine, but the World as a whole, with its ongoing military escalation, unannounced military exercises, increasingly hostile rhetoric, and false narrative that Ukraine is planning some unspecified provocation with the help of security assistance from NATO member countries.
In its turn, Ukraine constantly demonstrates its peaceful intentions. The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared 16 February, 2022 as the Day of Unity. Millions of Ukrainians throughout the country and abroad raised national flags and sang the country’s anthem to show unity and consolidation. The yellow and blue banners fluttered outside buildings of state agencies, schools, hospitals and shops. A massive information campaign was launched in social media, which people from all over the world could join and support Ukraine.
In these critical days for our country, we call upon the authorities of Thailand, as a friendly bilateral Ukraine’s partner, to use all appropriate political and diplomatic means to prevent the escalation of the international armed conflict in the territory of Ukraine, caused by the aggressive Kremlin policy and to force Russia to avoid implementing its invasion plans.
There is a way forward, based on dialogue and diplomacy, and Russia must be forced to choose this path. The voice of Thailand to this end will be significant and strong, and it won’t be ignored.