Two weeks ago, we heard Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Foreign Ministers in the General Assembly and in this Chamber calling for de-escalation and an end to Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Today, the Security Council meets on Ukraine again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because Russia\u2019s attacks on Ukraine have intensified again.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband was in Chernihiv in Ukraine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He saw and described Russia\u2019s \u201cbarbaric war of terror on the Ukrainian people\u201d.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, a Russian glide bomb killed at least 33 civilians travelling on a bus in Kramatorsk.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Russian airstrikes killed at least 30 civilians.\u00a0<\/p>\n
22, including five children, when a cruise missile flattened a residential building in Chernihiv.<\/p>\n
And on Tuesday, two Ukrainian Red Cross workers were injured trying to support victims of a Russian attack in the Zaporizhzhia region.<\/p>\n
These are 3 days of the 1,688 days since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion.<\/p>\n
And I could go on.<\/p>\n
Russian strikes on Black Sea ports and merchant shipping threaten global food supplies.<\/p>\n
In central Kyiv this week, Russian drones have hit civilian bridges in broad daylight.<\/p>\n
And hundreds of drones and missiles strike Ukraine\u2019s electricity and heating infrastructure everyday.<\/p>\n
Thousands of civilians are reported to be trapped within Russian-occupied Oleshky, short of food, water, and medical care, and without access to essential services.<\/p>\n
Even the Kremlin describes this situation as \u2018critical\u2019.<\/p>\n
Under International Humanitarian Law, an Occupying Power must ensure access to adequate food, medical supplies, and healthcare.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Where that is not the case, it must allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief.<\/p>\n
Yet, as Ukrainians approach winter, the Russian Ministry of Defence posted on social media that Ukrainians would \u201cfreeze\u201d this winter.<\/p>\n
And in rejecting an energy ceasefire, the Kremlin called Ukraine\u2019s energy system an \u201cAchilles heel\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Directly targeting civilian infrastructure may constitute a war crime.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The United Kingdom calls on Russia to follow her obligations under international law.<\/p>\n
Russia is not only destroying homes, infrastructure, and lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nearly five years on from the initial invasion, Russia is seeking to make the unacceptable appear routine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the frequency of Russia\u2019s attacks cannot be allowed to dull our sense of urgency.<\/p>\n
Russia could end this war tomorrow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Instead, Russia escalates her attacks.<\/p>\n
We should all respond accordingly.<\/p>\n
By taking measures that constrain Russia\u2019s ability to sustain this war.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This week the United Kingdom announced 38 new designations on those supplying Russia\u2019s military with critical goods.<\/p>\n
And by pressing Russia to accept an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.<\/p>\n
President Zelenskyy has made clear time and again Ukraine\u2019s willingness to accept a ceasefire.\u00a0<\/p>\n
President Putin has refused a ceasefire, and intensified attacks.<\/p>\n
These actions speak louder than any claims to want peace.<\/p>\n
As Foreign Secretary Miliband said yesterday in Kyiv, the United Kingdom stands with the people of Ukraine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And until Russia chooses the path of peace, we will not relent on our support for Ukraine or for our values.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two weeks ago, we heard Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Foreign Ministers in the General Assembly and in this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":797818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-797817","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\/797817","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=797817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/797818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}