UN General Assembly
2023

Russia escalated its aggression against Ukraine into a full-scale war more than a year and a half ago already. As we speak, a permanent member of the Security Council, the Russian Federation, is shamelessly destroying hospitals, kindergartens, grain storage facilities and schools. We have to be very clear: Russia invaded another sovereign country, using a fabricated pretext. The real reason for the aggression against Ukraine lies in Russia’s neo-imperial and neocolonial aspirations. Russia wants to destroy Ukraine, occupy it and drain it of its resources to fuel the ideology of its greatness. What is there great about colonizing another country? The outcome of the war will greatly determine the future world in which we and our kids will live. Will it be dominated by the brutal use of violence by those who commit crimes and destroy others? Or will we live in a world in which law and order, justice and universally accepted rules will prevail? What kind of lessons will we have learned from Russia’s aggression? How will we be able to discredit that aggression as a tool for rogue statecraft for generations to come?