51st session of the UN Human Rights Council

Agenda item 8: Follow-up to and implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action

General Debate 

Intervention by Ukraine

Mr. President,

Today will go down in history as yet another day when Russia has made a deplorable attempt to trample the fundamental principles of international law.

The decision of rushist dictator Putin to try to annex Ukraine’s occupied territories in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions has become another gross breach of the UN Charter, norms of international law and essential principles of human rights promotion, including those laid out in the Vienna Declaration.

Russia justifies this step by the so-called “referenda” which were allegedly conducted on these territories, but in reality they were nothing more than a theatrical mockery for Russian TV.

The absolute majority of Ukrainian citizens ignored this illegal vote, despite the insane psychological and physical pressure, threats to their life, health, privacy and dignity, gross violations of their human rights.

The occupiers used coercion and intimidation, forbade residents to leave the occupied territories, threatened them with dismissal from work and loss of wages for not taking part in the sham vote, forced Ukrainian prisoners of war to participate in this farce.

These illegal acts did not fulfil a single condition for free and fair vote, which could have been carried out only in strict compliance with the Constitution of Ukraine and international law, in the environment of respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and safety of citizens, which cannot be ensured in situations of war and occupation.

No illegitimate action can result in a legitimate result. The sham vote and today’s decision by the Russian leadership to try to annex the territories of Ukraine and are null and void from a standpoint of the law and should be rejected by the international community.

They represent nothing more than the agony of Putin’s regime of thieves and war criminals in the face of the unavoidable victory of Ukraine and their inevitable accountability.

We thank the UN Secretary General and numerous nations of the world for their strong statements of condemnation of these illegal acts. And we urge all UN member states to do the same and to continue working with us on ending this war through complete de-occupation of Ukraine’s territories from Russian invaders.