U.S. Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks on upholding Ukraine’s sovereignty in the face of Russia’s aggression. At the New York Foreign Press Center briefing attended by United States Bureau Chief OLUKOREDE YISHAU, Thomas-Greenfield details how America, the United Nations and allies are taming Russia and why the United States will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes to achieve a just and lasting peace. Excerpts:
Biden’s meeting with Zelenskyy and related issues
President Biden went to Kyiv yesterday and stood shoulder to shoulder with President Zelenskyy to remind the world that one year later, Kyiv stands. Today we heard the President say in Poland that a world in which the fundamental principles of the UN Charter will be upheld. And today, Ukraine still stands. Democracy still stands. And America and the world still stands with Ukraine.
Putin thought he would break the coalition of countries that have supported Ukraine over the last year. He thought he could easily roll over Ukraine. He thought he could tear the UN Charter to shreds. He was wrong. The people of Ukraine have proven their determination to defend their freedom, and one year later the United States and our allies and partners have proven that we will ensure that Ukraine has what it needs to defend its people and territory against Russia’s aggression for as long as it takes.
Over the past year, in cooperation with allies and partners, we have done everything in our power to help Ukraine defend itself, because Russia has shown no interest in ending this war. And here at the UN for the past year, you’ve seen us stand up for the fundamental principles of the UN Charter. Leading up to the brutal full-scale invasion, we held meeting after meeting. We made it clear that Russia was preparing to invade, even as Russia denied, denied, denied. Then Russia launched their full-scale invasion at the very moment when we were sitting in the Security Council. While we sought peace, Putin chose war.
So we have worked with the international community to respond. Just days after Russia launched its attack, the UN General Assembly adopted with 141 votes from countries across the globe a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and demanding Russia withdraw its troops. Then in March, the UN General Assembly reconvened to adopt a resolution deploring the humanitarian crisis caused by Russia’s aggression. And in April, we successfully led a push to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council for its gross and systematic violations of human rights.
In May, we used our presidency of the Security Council to shine a light on how Russia’s attacks on Ukraine were hurting others around the world too by exacerbating global food insecurity. We rallied more than 100 countries to sign onto a Roadmap for Global Food Security. And this past October, 143 countries – 143 member-states – voted to reject Russia’s illegal attempted annexation of Ukrainian territory and upheld Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity once again – 143 members. It was a strong rebuke by the international community. The world time and time again has sent an unequivocal message to President Putin: Silence your weapons, withdraw your troops, end this war. Because we all know that the longer this war goes on, the more the Ukrainian people will suffer; the more the world, especially countries in the Middle East and Africa that rely on Ukraine’s grain, will suffer.
UN General Assembly
This week the UN General Assembly will have the opportunity to vote on a resolution that calls on countries to support diplomatic efforts to achieve a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in Ukraine – a peace consistent with the UN Charter, especially the fundamental principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity. This resolution also urges countries to work together to address the global impact of the war, including on food security, energy, finance, the environment, and nuclear security and safety.
Already 68 countries have co-sponsored this important text, and we strongly encourage all member-states to vote for this resolution, to vote for peace. I want to emphasize that supporting peace in Ukraine is in no way about a great power competition. This is not somehow about choosing between the United States and Russia. This is about defending the UN Charter, this is about doing our part to end the scourge of war, and this is about reaffirming one of this institution’s core principles – that one country – one country cannot take the territory of another by force.
Let me end by saying Russia alone could end this war today. Until it does so, the United States will stand united with Ukraine for as long as it takes to achieve a just and lasting peace.
Expectations on turnout for the resolution in the General Assembly
As I said, we have 68 countries that have already signed up to co-sponsor this resolution, and we are continuing to work with other countries to address any issues or questions they may have about the resolution. We think this is a simple resolution to support. It is a resolution that calls for peace, it is a resolution that calls for negotiation, in line with the Charter of the United Nations, in line with the values of the Charter of the United Nations. So we think this should be something that countries should find easy to support, and we’ll look forward to seeing the vote on that day. I can’t predict what it’s going to be, but I can just say that given all of the work that all of us have put into this, we’re looking forward to having a robust debate and discussion and vote.
Chinese peace initiative
On China, we are not expecting or projecting that China will submit anything – any counter-resolutions or any other documentation, but that’s a question I think you’ll have to ask the Chinese directly.
And in terms of the resolution, what we are calling for are negotiations. And we’re calling for the two sides to sit together. We’re calling for peace. But any cessation of hostilities require the Russians, who are – who initiated hostilities, to cease this war. They can end the fighting today by stopping the fighting, by taking their troops out of Ukraine and ending the war, and going to the negotiating table. If Ukraine stopped fighting – and you heard Secretary Blinken say this over and over again, and I’ve said it as well – if Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends. If Russia stops fighting, the war ends.
Conditions for negotiation
Look, it’s not for us to decide the conditions for negotiations. It’s for the Ukrainians to decide what conditions they will negotiate under. But what we want to do is put them in as strong a position as possible so that when they go to the negotiating table, they are in a position of strength.
The impact of a UN General Assembly resolution
It sends a strong message, first to Russia, that their actions are unacceptable, it isolates Russia in the General Assembly as well as in the Security Council, and I think it isolates Russia around the world. And a strong vote also sends the message to Russia that they need to sit at the negotiating table. They are a pariah state right now, and they – if they want to be – to move forward in this world, they have to end this war. They have to go to the negotiating table, and the only way that they can do that is for them to take their troops out of Ukraine and end the war. And a strong vote in the General Assembly will send that message to them in no uncertain terms. They will see that the world remains unified against their unprovoked actions in Ukraine.
How difficult it was to get support for the resolution
It takes a lot of hard work. We’re unified in our strong condemnation of Russia’s actions in Ukraine, but we want to make sure that we bring others into this condemnation, into this group, into this unity that we have established. So we have a lot of meetings, as you can imagine. We have a lot of meetings, we have a lot of group meetings, we have a lot of one-on-one meetings with countries, and we worked hard with the Ukrainian Government to forge a resolution that everyone could support. Because this is a resolution that stands on the principles of the UN charter. It stands on a country’s right to sovereignty and the integrity of their borders, and it condemns any action by another country in terms of compromising their neighbor’s borders. So there is very little there in this document that anyone would disagree with.
Italy’s role in the war in Ukraine
Italy has an important role to play. Italy is a member of NATO, they’re part of the G7, and they’re a close ally and strong friend of the United States. And we have worked closely with the Italian Government on a range of shared issues. As we – and we will continue to do that. And what is happening in Ukraine is something that we share, it’s something that we both believe in. And as President Biden just came out of – just came out of Kyiv, I thought it was important for him to talk to President
Meloni about her visit to Kyiv and to share what he was able to assess on his trip there.
So I thought it was a good time for them to have a discussion on a range of issues, and I have a very close working relationship with your ambassador here in New York as well, and we regularly exchange views and ideas on how we will continue to work together to address the issues related to Ukraine.
