Thank you, Mr Chair.
On the night of 1 to 2 July, Russia launched a massive attack against Ukraine. It fired 496 drones and 74 missiles, killing at least 30 civilians and injuring a further 91 – the vast majority in Kyiv. Four days later, Russia launched another mass attack on Ukraine’s capital region, firing 351 drones and 68 missiles. 26 people were killed and over 120 injured.
These attacks are part of an escalating campaign of long-range strikes against Ukrainian cities, with catastrophic damage to civilian infrastructure and profound impacts on the people who depend on it.
Russia has said that these attacks were retaliation for Ukrainian strikes on civilian infrastructure inside Russia.
Yet Ukraine has repeatedly offered a full and unconditional ceasefire. The Kremlin has time and time again rejected a ceasefire and instead pursued its relentless campaign of aggression against Ukraine.
Russia cannot credibly claim that it is forced to launch mass strikes in response to a cycle of escalation when it has refused an offer to stop that cycle. Russia cannot claim to be acting in defence of civilians while rejecting a path to peace.
The conclusion is clear. Russia wants to preserve the option of terror from the air. Russia is not seeking to end the human suffering caused by this war. It is using that suffering as a coercive tool. When Russia feels pressure at home, when its battlefield progress stalls, it reaches for the same answer more missiles, more drones, more attacks on Ukrainian civilians.
Russia also claims that its targets were military-industrial sites. Yet in Kyiv, residential buildings were damaged. Emergency services were hit. Humanitarian infrastructure was struck, including a warehouse linked to the Red Cross. These were unambiguously not military industrial sites.
So, how does Russia explain this? Will it once again claim, without evidence, that the destruction was caused by Ukrainian air defences? Will it argue that its so-called high-precision weapons simply land, by accident, on apartment blocks, ambulances and humanitarian warehouses? Or is the truth that Russia is striking civilian life in Ukraine because civilian suffering is part of its strategy?
If these strikes are random or accidental, then Russia is launching weapons it cannot control into densely populated areas. If these strikes are deliberate, then Russia is targeting civilians and civilian objects. Indiscriminate attacks and targeting civilians and civilian objects are in violation of international humanitarian law.
Mr Chair, the United Kingdom will continue to stand with Ukraine. We will continue to support efforts towards a just and lasting peace. And we will continue to hold Russia to account for the choices it makes — including the choice it made this past week to terrorise, once again, the brave people of Kyiv.
Thank you.