1.Over the past week, Russia again terrorised Ukrainian civilians with its indiscriminate attacks against civilian objects and infrastructure, including cultural heritage sites. Last week, on 6th March, at least 5 people were killed in a Russian missile strike on Odesa port infrastructure. Additionally, at least17 more civilians were reported dead, and 90 injured due to Russians helling and aerial attacks on Ukraine’s Kharkiv, Kherson, Dnipro, Sumy ,Dnipropetrovsk, and Donetsk regions. In the evening of 12th March, a Russian missile strike hit a residential multi-storey building in the city centre of Kryvyi Rih, resulting in the deaths of at least four civilians and injuries to43 others, including 12 children. We strongly condemn Russia’s continued brutal attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. Deliberately directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects constitutes a war crime. In Kherson, Russian shelling damaged the early 19th-centuryneoclassical Holy Spirit Cathedral. We urge Russia to ensure that cultural  heritage in Ukraine does not suffer any further destruction or damage and to fully respect the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property and its two Protocols (1954 and 1999), as well as the 1972 World Heritage Convention.

2.We take note of the 5th March decision by the International Criminal Court(ICC) to issue arrest warrants against two Russian military officers,Lieutenant-General Sergei Ivanovich Kobylash and Admiral Viktor Nikolayevich Sokolov, for alleged war crimes of directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects and the crime against humanity of inhumane acts under the Rome Statute, stemming from their involvement in the campaign of missile strikes against Ukrainian civilian energy infrastructure during the period from 10th October 2022 to at least 9th March 2023. Russia and its leadership must be held fully accountable for waging a war of aggression against Ukraine and for other most serious crimes under international law, as well as for the massive damage caused by its war. We reiterate our full support for the work of the ICC and reiterate that the pursuit of accountability and justice for all crimes committed in connection with Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine will remain a key priority for the EU.

3. The EU and its Member States remain committed to addressing global food security threatened by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. We commend Ukraine for its success in significantly expanding food exports through the Black Sea, which helps feed the world, despite Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian ports. We will continue to support the timely and stable delivery of all goods, especially agricultural products, to global markets, including through the “Grain from Ukraine” programme and EU-Ukraine “Solidarity Lanes”. We call on Russia to stop weaponising food supply and thus jeopardising global food security, and instead, ensure safe commercial navigation in the Black Sea.

4. Under international law, Russia is the aggressor and Ukraine is the victim rightfully exercising its inherent right to self-defence against Russia’s illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked full-scale invasion in full conformity with Article 51 of the UN Charter. No amount of disinformation and information manipulation by Russia will change this reality and we categorically reject ongoing Russian propaganda and disinformation campaigns, also within the OSCE, aimed at denying Ukrainian identity and sovereignty. For ten years now, Russia’s military actions on the ground, its cyber-attacks, hybrid operations, and disinformation activities, are conducted in a concerted manner and towards the same goal. The OSCE, as an organisation that deals with both military and non-military security issues, cannot overlook this link and must address it in a comprehensive manner. We insist that Russia stop its disinformation activities and other malign actions against Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Georgia and other OSCE participating States.

5. The EU will spare no effort to expose the highly distorted picture of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine that Russia is attempting to construct in vain, based on unsubstantiated claims, neo-imperial ambitions and historical revisionism. We reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders and we will continue to stand with Ukraine and its people for as long as it takes. To this end, the EU will continue to provide Ukraine with strong financial, economic, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support.

6. We reiterate that any diplomatic solution to end Russia's war of aggression must be based on full respect for international law and its rules, norms and principles, including those enshrined in the UN Charter, and for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. We will continue intensive global outreach efforts and cooperation with Ukraine and other partners from all regions of the world to ensure the widest possible international support for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace and the key principles and objectives of Ukraine’s Peace Formula, based on the UN Charter, with a view to a future Global Peace Summit.

7. In conclusion, we once again demand that Russia immediately stop its war of aggression against Ukraine, and completely and unconditionally withdraw all its forces and military equipment from the entire territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders. We also condemn the continued military support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine provided by Belarus, as well as Iran, and the DPRK. We urge all countries not to provide material or other support for Russia’s war of aggression, which is a blatant violation of international law, including the UN Charter, and the OSCE’s core principles and commitments.

The Candidate Countries NORTH MACEDONIA*, MONTENEGRO*, ALBANIA*, UKRAINE, the REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA, BOSNIA and HERZEGOVINA*, and GEORGIA, the EFTA countries ICELAND, LIECHTENSTEIN and NORWAY, members of the European Economic Area, as well as ANDORRA, MONACO and SAN MARINO align themselves with this statement.

* North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.