Thank you, Madame Chair. The United Kingdom reaffirms its firm support for Ukraine\u2019s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders, in accordance with the principles of the Helsinki Final Act, the Paris Charter, and the commitments freely undertaken by all OSCE participating States.<\/p>\n
At the start of 2026, after nearly four years of its war against Ukraine, the Russian
\nFederation continues to claim that its military campaign is defensive, limited, and conducted in full compliance with international humanitarian law.<\/p>\n
The reality, at the height of this winter season, is that Russia has intensified its missile
\nand drone strikes against Ukraine\u2019s energy generation and transmission facilities, its water systems, and its ports \u2013 frequently striking indispensable civilian infrastructure. Russia claims to be protecting civilians yet systematically degrades the systems on which civilian survival depends, particularly during winter conditions. Russian officials describe such attacks as \u201clawful military necessity\u201d. Yet Russia\u2019s conduct, whether deliberate or carried out with reckless disregard, has produced severe and entirely foreseeable humanitarian consequences \u2013 including the loss of heating, water, and electricity for millions of civilians. Russia speaks of restraint, but Russia\u2019s pattern of military operations only highlights strategic, operational and tactical escalation.<\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s words and Russia\u2019s actions do not match. The situation on the ground
\nshows a clear gap between rhetoric and reality. Russia\u2019s conduct remains incompatible with international humanitarian law and with the commitments this organisation exists to uphold.<\/p>\n
Madame Chair, the human cost of this war demands sober reflection in this forum.
\nIndependent assessments by organisations such as the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and RAND \u2013 and also by the United Nations \u2013 indicate that Russian military losses, of those killed and wounded, now exceed sustainable recruitment and replacement rates. Over a comparable duration, cumulative Russian casualties are approaching levels seen during some of the most destructive phases of the Second World War. We note this comparison without any sense of satisfaction, but with great sadness. It reflects a tragic loss of life and the destruction of a generation of service personnel.<\/p>\n
We call again for Russia to cease its attacks and demonstrate genuine readiness to engage in negotiations grounded in international law and the principles to which all OSCE participating States have subscribed. The United Kingdom will continue to support Ukraine\u2019s inherent right to self-defence and to work with partners to uphold security and stability across the OSCE region.<\/p>\n
Thank you, Madame Chair<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thank you, Madame Chair. The United Kingdom reaffirms its firm support for Ukraine\u2019s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-382525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}