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Statement on behalf of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania at the United Nations Security Council briefing on Ukraine on Monday, 19 April 2022.

Mme President,

I am speaking on behalf of the Baltic countries – Latvia, Lithuania, and my own country, Estonia. We place high importance on the opportunity to participate in the Council discussion today.

I thank the briefers for their updates, reflecting the alarming humanitarian situation caused by the continuing brutal Russian military aggression, with the complicity of Belarus, against Ukraine.

This aggression, launched while the members of this Council were in session in this Chamber urging the Russian Federation to withdraw its forces from the borders of Ukraine, is illegal and unprovoked. We strongly condemn this violation of international law, including the UN Charter. We repeat the demand of the International Court of Justice as well as of the General Assembly for Russia to immediately stop its aggression and unconditionally withdraw all forces and military equipment from the entire territory of Ukraine.

The Russian aggression was launched and is being conducted with a cynical indifference to its humanitarian consequences for Ukraine and across the world. As the Russian forces indiscriminately target civilians and infrastructure, cities are reduced to ruins, homes and farms are destroyed, families are torn apart. Thousands, including hundreds of children, killed and wounded. Civilians tortured, subjected to sexual violence, summarily executed and burned in Bucha and elsewhere. Rising hunger and poverty in the most vulnerable regions of the world. These are the devastating results of the choice made by Russia.

They bring echoes of the worst crimes of the past century that the UN is designed to prevent.

Five million people have been forced to flee Ukraine in less than two months, most of them women and children. We commend the solidarity of Ukraine’s immediate neighbours in helping those fleeing. We continue to assist the nearly 110 000 refugees who have reached Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Millions are displaced as a direct result of the war, a vast majority of them women and children. Access to health services, including sexual and reproductive health services, is drastically reduced. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are sending medical and shelter supplies, food aid, and other support to help the people in Ukraine. Our combined humanitarian assistance – from the state but also countless individuals, companies and civil society organisations – amounts to 66 million EUR. Just as one example, one in every three Estonians has made a charitable donation to help the people in Ukraine.    

We are contributing to the UN Humanitarian Flash Appeal and the Regional Refugee Response Plan, and continue to provide support to the work of the ICRC. We also continue to provide humanitarian assistance and development cooperation globally to assist those most in need.

We underline the need to address the vulnerabilities faced by those who are forced to flee, including the risk of human trafficking. We are concerned about the reports of Ukrainians, including children, forcibly moved to “filtration camps” and then to the territory of the Russian Federation, often without their parents.

The humanitarian situation of those trapped in the cities under the siege of the Russian forces has been described as “hell”. The Russian Federation must grant immediately full, safe and unhindered access for humanitarian actors and assistance to Mariupol and other besieged cities, as well as safe passage, including safe pathways, to allow civilians to safely and voluntarily leave conflict-affected areas to a destination of their choice.

Mme President,

As we discuss the humanitarian consequences of the Russian aggression, we also reiterate our call for accountability for the systematic violations of international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, committed by the Russian armed forces in Ukraine. There will be justice. We support the UN Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine as well as the work under the OSCE Moscow Mechanism, and continue our support to the office of the ICC Prosecutor in his investigation concerning alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine.

We underline the importance of continued UN monitoring, documenting and reporting on violations against civilians, including women and children, through its established mechanisms.

But we cannot forget that, while these investigations are under way, countless civilians continue to be targeted by Russia in Ukraine every day. The Russian attack against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally agreed borders needs to stop – now.

I repeat – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand with the people of Ukraine – women, men and children, who have shown immeasurable courage. We stand with humanity against brutality.

Thank you.