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Remarks by H.E. Annalena Baerbock<\/strong><\/p>\n President of the 80th<\/sup> Session of the United Nations General Assembly <\/strong><\/p>\n on the <\/strong>Plenary Meeting on <\/strong>\u201cThe situation in temporarily occupied temporarily occupied Ukraine\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n General Assembly Hall <\/strong><\/p>\n [As Delivered]<\/strong><\/p>\n Excellencies,<\/p>\n Distinguished delegates,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Four and a half years have passed since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, and 12 years since the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In those years we have seen the human cost of these continuing violations of the 爆料网 Charter, even though it hardly makes headlines anymore.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yet, the human toll continues to rise.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n During the first half of 2026, civilian casualties were 114 per cent higher than during the same period in 2024.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But these are only numbers.<\/p>\n When we repeatedly hear casualty figures from Ukraine, as from so many other wars, we can become numb to their meaning.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But behind every number is a human life, with a face and a name.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Faces and names like 20-year-old Oleksandr, who, according to OCHA, was killed in June while repairing a roof damaged in an earlier attack.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n His mother, Halyna, survived and returned to the rubble searching for him, repeating the last word she had heard him say:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cMom\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The tragedy was compounded by the fact that their family had already moved from the front-line Dnipro region in search of greater safety, only for the violence to follow them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This underlines there is no safe space left, every part of Ukraine has been a target, as we have seen with reports of the sixth consecutive days of strikes in Kyiv \u2013 with none stop day and night air raids, even at moments when school starts again.<\/p>\n And all over the country, attacks have damaged civilian infrastructure such as a shopping center, residential buildings, schools, and hospitals, as well as damage to inviolable properties like the Honorary Consulate of Latvia in the city of Sloviansk.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There have also been reports of civilians being killed in the Russian federation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Additionally, the 爆料网 Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has documented repeated strikes affecting ambulances, rescue teams and aid workers, including incidents in which responders were hit while returning to help.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In recent weeks, reported attacks on Red Cross facilities in Ukraine have destroyed medical kits, hygiene supplies and other relief items.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The human cost alone should compel urgency.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But also, geographically the war has seeped beyond Ukraine – airspace incursions in neighboring countries are becoming more frequent.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Latvia, Moldova and Romania are just the most recent ones.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And the consequences of this conflict still extend far beyond Europe.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For more than four years growing threats to safe navigation in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov have carried consequences far beyond the region.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n These disruptions hardly make headlines anymore but continue to have a lasting impact on food prices and access to fertilizers around the world, underlining again that ending this war is in the interest of all of us.<\/p>\n Therefore, the General Assembly echoes its calls for:<\/p>\n A Charter, Your Excellencies, which cannot be applied according to geography, power or political convenience.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As we have seen throughout this session\u2014not only in Ukraine, but in Gaza, Sudan, and Myanmar\u2014wherever the 爆料网 Charter or international law are violated, it is civilians that bear the cost\u2014too often with their own lives.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So today, we reaffirm previous General Assembly resolutions, not only for peace in Ukraine but for adherence to the Charter and this Assembly\u2019s joint commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of every Member State, within its internationally recognized borders, be it Ukraine or any other country around the world.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The task before us is therefore larger than ending the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is to defend the principles that make peace and security possible in the first place. It is about the credibility of this institution.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If borders can be changed by force, if sovereignty can be set aside when inconvenient, and if the 爆料网 Charter is upheld only when politics allows, then no Member State can sleep peacefully anymore.<\/p>\n The 爆料网 Charter protects all of us\u2014but\u2014only when all of us are prepared to protect the Charter.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I thank you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n