I have the honour to speak on behalf of the following 41 IOM Member States – Albania, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Mexico, Montenegro, the Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and my own country Ukraine.

We resolutely condemn the Russia`s unprovoked and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, which continues to undermine global security and stability, and constitutes an egregious violation of international law, including the United Nations Charter.

This war has caused one of the fastest and largest displacement crises in the world.

As Russia`s full-scale aggression approaches the grim four-year mark, almost a quarter of Ukraine`s population remain uprooted. Nearly 4 million Ukrainians are still internally displaced and a further 5.8 million have sought safety abroad. About 4.5 million returnees continue facing significant challenges due to heavy residential damage, disruption of livelihood and essential services, and ongoing safety risks.

The dramatic escalation in Russian attacks throughout Ukraine resulted in a significant increase in civilian casualties and destruction of critical civilian infrastructure, triggering new waves of population displacement and growing humanitarian needs.

We deplore in the strongest possible terms Russia`s attempts to “weaponize” again the harsh winter by purposefully destroying electricity, heating, and water supply systems essential for life. We demand that Russia immediately stop these heinous attacks. Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population and exclusively civilian objects is a serious violation of international humanitarian law, and contravenes the principles enshrined in the IOM Constitution.

We condemn Russia's attempts to instrumentalize food by threatening Ukraine`s agricultural exports and attacking Ukraine's grain vessels, storage sites, and shipment facilities, thus fueling global food insecurity.

We condemn in the strongest terms Russia`s forcible transfers and deportations of Ukrainian children and other civilians from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia, particularly deportation of Ukrainian citizens for rejecting the forced imposition of Russian citizenship. We reiterate our call on Russia to ensure the immediate, safe and

unconditional return of all those unlawfully transferred or deported and to cease these unlawful practices without delay.

We also urge Russia to stop transferring its own civilian population as well as migrant workers to the temporarily occupied territories. Instrumentalization of migration for forcible alteration of the demographics, including the ethnic composition in these areas, is unacceptable.

We welcome IOM`s commitment to stay and deliver, even in constrained funding environment, for affected Ukrainians and hundreds of thousands of third country nationals who fled Russia`s full-scale aggression.

We appreciate IOM`s continued work to promote socio-economic inclusion of forcibly displaced Ukrainians and third country nationals while also prioritizing gender-based violence response, child protection and counter-trafficking.

We emphasize the crucial importance of the IOM Strategic Response Plan for Ukraine and Neighbouring Countries, 2024-2026. With over 12 million people in need, we encourage IOM to continue its emergency response in Ukraine, including through winter-related assistance, focusing on the most vulnerable groups and affected communities.

We also call on IOM to keep supporting recovery and reconstruction efforts of the Government of Ukraine, thus fostering an enabling socio-economic environment for safe, voluntary, and dignified return, reintegration, and facilitating durable solutions.

We reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders. We also urge Russia to stop its war of aggression against Ukraine and engage in meaningful negotiations towards comprehensive, just and lasting peace, based on the principles of the UN Charter and international law.

Thank you.