UN General Assembly
2023

Last year we recorded more conflict-related deaths in the world than in any year since 1994. Russia’s illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an immediate neighbour of Slovakia, has greatly contributed to that rise. For more than 570 days. Russia’s forces have been killing innocent Ukrainian civilians, kidnapping children and destroying towns and cities. They have bombed infrastructure and ports that export Ukraine’s grain to people who need it in Bangladesh and Egypt. That is why Moscow must let that grain leave Ukrainian ports. We do indeed need a New Agenda for Peace, as the Secretary-General rightly said, but first and foremost we need action for peace from Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council.