Check against delivery! 

Good afternoon, 

Here we are, in New York, together with Minister [for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro] Kuleba, one year after Russia started the invasion of Ukraine. And we know what has happened during this year: a lot of suffering for the Ukrainian people, thousands of people being killed, civilian infrastructures destroyed, Russia bombing everyday in order to curb the resistance of the Ukrainian people. 

This war has been sending shockwaves around the world, creating troubles for everybody. The whole world is paying the high price for this war in terms of prices of electricity, food and a looming economic crisis due to this fact. 

So, I hope that the United Nations will support this resolution that Ukraine has asked the European Union to lead in a transparent and inclusive way in order to have on board everybody who wants to support the principles of the United Nations. Because this is not about Ukraine alone, it is about the world in which we want to live. This is about the right of the people to live freely and peacefully in an independent, sovereign country with their borders being are recognised by the international community. 

This is about saying to the invader, to the aggressor that he cannot use the law of force in order to impose its will. That is what the resolution is about: a call to the international community that should be echoed in the Kremlin in order to understand that they are losing this war militarily, they are losing this war morally and politically. And the world has to ask to stop it. To stop it and look for a peace, a just and sustainable peace, grounded in the principles of the United Nations. Nothing more but nothing less than that.  

And I hope that tomorrow and today, when we discuss about this resolution and when the international community will vote, [it] will support looking for the peace. [It] will reject the invasion. It will ask for the respect and fulfilment of United Nations Charter.  

Thank you. 

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-237564