**As delivered**

President, colleagues,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and 26 Member States.

We are gathered in this Hall today to reiterate, three full years since Russia launched its illegal and unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine, our unwavering support for international law and for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity enshrined in the UN Charter. We gather today to advocate for an early end to the war of aggression and for a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in Ukraine, in line with the UN Charter.

Those core principles are not abstract ideals; they are vital pillars for every nation within the UN. They apply to all of us. The foundation of our multilateral system is at risk if the UN’s core principles are undermined, and if we allow the power of guns to replace in our troubled world the power of law. It is that simple, and that vital.

We support all meaningful efforts, under the UN Charter, to bring an end to Russia’s war of aggression. No one wants and needs peace in Ukraine more than the Ukrainian people. No one has a larger stake in European security than Europeans. And no one can afford to ignore the devastating consequences of this war for regional and global stability.

Dear colleagues, the Ukraine resolution that we adopted today reiterates in the strongest way the UN membership’s call for renewed diplomatic efforts towards a comprehensive, just and lasting peace -- an early peace in Ukraine, this year -- in line with the UN Charter.

We took every effort to ensure that the process to prepare this resolution, together with our Ukrainian colleagues, should be transparent and inclusive. Together with Ukraine, we spared no effort to take comments on board as much as possible. We are grateful to all delegations that engaged with us in this process. Your efforts strengthened the text that was adopted today. Thank you.

Colleagues, the time for peace is now. And peace must be just, lasting, and comprehensive. Any peace that risks rewarding aggression increases the risk for any country, wherever in the world, to face similar aggression. It creates a dangerous precedent for the future, undermining the principles of international law and the sovereignty of all nations. But a peace that is in line with the core principles of the UN Charter ensures a safer world for all of us. And we believe that in today’s turbulent world, it is especially imperative to ensure that our calls for peace leave absolutely no doubt about the UN membership’s commitment to UN principles, the UN Charter, and the territorial integrity and sovereignty of nations. And this is exactly what we did today.

Thank you.