Dear friends of Ukraine!

I address to all of you who support Ukraine and demonstrate solidarity with the Ukrainian people in times of hardships.

Today we mark one month exactly when Russia started its active phase of military aggression against Ukraine, but shooting of civil Ukrainians started in fact 8 years ago.

It was a peaceful ordinary morning here in Bangkok, when people of Ukraine woke up with sounds of expositions in early hours on February 24th. Since then, we all are living in a completely different reality, where the world order we used to, established after the end of the World War II, is not just compromised, but was destroyed when the russian soldiers stepped on the Ukrainian soil.

Now we must defend our Homeland, families and everything what we love. It is well-known that the Ukrainians is a very peaceful nation, but we can’t allow anyone to conquer and enslave us.

Ukrainians suffered so much during the last month.

The UN Human Rights Office recorded 2,421 confirmed civilian casualties in Ukraine: 925 killed and 1,496 injured (as of midnight 20 March). According to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, 117 children were killed by Russian invaders, and more than 155 injured (as of morning 22 March).

I would brief you on recent developments in my country

First of all, unfortunately, despite all calls of the international community, including the UN GA to stop the invasion, the Russian troops continue attacking Ukraine (albeit with different intensity)

- Russia fired nearly 1000 missiles on Ukrainian territory destroying residential areas, we are facing more and more air-raids, tank attacks, artillery shelling. Ukraine became a testing ground for Russian missiles;

- Russian warships shell the coastline. Ukraine's coast of the Azov Sea is temporarily blocked by Russia now;

- Russian troops bomb Ukrainian airports, destroy civilian infrastructure, kill dozens of civilians daily;

- kindergartens and schools, universities and hospitals, airports and fuel stations, bridges and water reservoirs are targeted. 548 educational institutions, more than 100 hospitals, more than 3780 residential buildings and 28 religious buildings were damaged or destroyed only on the territory controlled by Ukraine;

- Russia organizes cyber attacks and fake news campaigns aimed to sow panic in Ukrainian towns and cut off Ukrainian citizens from the official information sources;

Despite significant military efforts, Russia fails to reach its key goals: 

1) Ukraine did not surrender and Kyiv as a political and diplomatic centre remains intact;

2) No big cities with the only exception of Kherson were taken. Ukraine managed to establish defence and counter-attack. In the towns temporarily under control of Russian troops, the Ukrainian population is actively protesting against them.

Secondly, I must admit that the humanitarian situation in Ukraine is constantly deteriorating.

The worst situation remains in the surrounded city of Mariupol, which is now almost destroyed. People need food and shelter. The main efforts of the Ukrainian government are now focused on establishment of humanitarian corridors, which are regularly violated by the russian troops.

According to the UNHCR, ~10 mln. people have fled their homes in Ukraine: ~6.5 mln. people have been displaced inside Ukraine, and ~3.55 mln. left the country. In such a way, the war in Ukraine not only takes away lives of hundreds of people every day, but also may cause a humanitarian crisis in the heart of Europe. Moreover, the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces has closed grain ports in the Black Sea, disrupting the world chains of supply and raising concerns about food shortages in nations that depend on imports.

Thirdly, we are very grateful to the international community which supports Ukraine. Russia becomes increasingly isolated and the actions of its leadership are rigidly condemned. The Kingdom of Thailand was among those countries which voted in favour of the UN Resolution on Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, paving the way to the peaceful settlement.

We are very thankful to the Government and citizens of the Kingdom of Thailand, citizens of Ukraine in Thailand and neighbouring countries and all the persons who donate for Ukraine’s increased humanitarian needs and propose their volunteer assistance.

Ukraine’s goal is to stop the atrocities. For this reason, our delegation has already taken part in 4 rounds of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. As for the moment, there is little progress and we didn’t receive any constructive responses from the Russian side on ceasefire. As reiterated by President Zelenskyy on 20 March, no ultimatums will be accepted by Ukraine, including on the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine.

Ukraine needs international legally binding long-term guarantees of security. Such guarantees can be provided in particular by the UN SC Member States and Ukraine’s neighbours. They need to be strong enough to prevent any further attempts by Russia to attack Ukraine. 

We need support of the Kingdom of Thailand! We would highly appreciate the Thailand’s voting in favour of the UN Resolution “Humanitarian consequences of aggression against Ukraine” which is going to happen today.

We don’t want to have any territorial disputes with our neighbours, we simply want to live in a prosperous country and be able to decide our own destiny. In view of this, I call upon you to stand with and for Ukraine, because today it means a protection of human values and peace in the entire world.