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STORY: GA / UKRAINE
TRT: 04:52
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / RUSSIAN / NATS
DATELINE: 23 FEBRUARY 2024, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
23 FEBRUARY 2024, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, General Assembly President Dennis Francis at the GA rostrum
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Dennis Francis, President, General Assembly:
“The world bore witness as that fateful day marked the onset of a series of protracted, illegal, and flagrant violations of the UN charter and of international law. As you, the representatives of UN member States, gather here today, you can neither be blind to the ongoing destruction and devastation, or ignore the plight of the people of Ukraine.”
4. Med shot, Ukrainian delegation
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Dennis Francis, President, General Assembly:
“The war has affected every member state gathered in this hall, whether in the form of soaring food prices, or in the context of energy insecurity. Without doubt, this needless war has been a significant catalyst in reshaping world geopolitics and geoeconomics, not only inflicting direct harm on the countries involved, but also impeding the developmental progress of numerous others, especially developing countries.”
6. Wide shot, Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba at the rostrum
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ukraine:
“Unfortunately, Russia ignores the will of the global majority. It continues its aggression and throws more and more men into the flames of war. It persists in killing and maiming Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, as well as brutally violating basic human rights in the occupied territories.”
8. Med shot, Russian delegation
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ukraine:
“Russia cannot ignore the voice of the world majority if we all take a principled stance and act together. The peace formula proposed by President Zelensky represents exactly such an opportunity. You are all aware of the formula’s ten points. They envisage not only the end of hostilities, but also proposals to strengthen food security, nuclear safety, environmental protection, energy security, international justice, human rights, and respect for the UN charter.”
10. Wide shot, Kuleba walks away
11. Med shot, US delegation applauding
12. Wide shot, Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya at the rostrum
13. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“The reality is that there are no temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. But there are Russian regions such as Crimea - the 10th anniversary of the reunification which we will celebrate in March - and the regions which succeeded as a result of the legitimate expression of the people's will in the Donetsk and Luhansk republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. We have heard and will continue to hear many lies on the subject today from the representatives of Kyiv and its Western sponsors behind this as a desire not just to distort the facts, but to rewrite history in general. The fact is, that the truthful, undistorted version of history is extremely inconvenient for our Western colleagues, because then they would have to admit their responsibility for provoking and unleashing the Ukrainian crisis, for years of preparing Ukraine for war with Russia under the pretext of the Minsk agreements, for nurturing the sprouts of nationalism and neo-Nazism in Ukraine, which have come into full bloom there since 2013.”
14. Wide shot, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron at the rostrum
15. SOUNDBITE (English) David Cameron, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom:
“Putin tries to claim that Russia is fighting not against Ukraine, but against the whole of the West. He claims we are somehow out to dismember Russia. That is the central lie of this war. The truth is that we, myself included, spent years trying to build a new relationship with Moscow after the end of the Cold War. We did that because we profoundly believe that a secure, stable Russia at peace with its neighbours is in our interests and the world's.”
16. Wide shot, Kuleba at stakeout podium
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ukraine:
“People did not believe; experts, diplomats did not believe that Ukraine would survive the large-scale invasion by Russia. Today, the same people do not believe that Ukraine can win this war. They turned wrong once, and they will turn wrong again. Ukraine survived the invasion. Ukraine will win the war. And if we act collectively and jointly, this will happen rather sooner than later, sooner rather than later.”
18. Med shot, Kuleba walks away
Marking two years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, General Assembly President Dennis Francis today (23 Feb) chaired a plenary debate on the Situation in the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, and said, “the world bore witness as that fateful day marked the onset of a series of protracted, illegal and flagrant violations of the UN charter and of international law.”
Francis said, “as you, the representatives of UN member States, gather here today, you can neither be blind to the ongoing destruction and devastation, or ignore the plight of the people of Ukraine.”
He said, “the war has affected every member state gathered in this hall, whether in the form of soaring food prices, or in the context of energy insecurity. Without doubt, this needless war has been a significant catalyst in reshaping world geopolitics and geoeconomics, not only inflicting direct harm on the countries involved, but also impeding the developmental progress of numerous others, especially developing countries.”
Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba told the Assembly that Russia “continues its aggression and throws more and more men into the flames of war” and “persists in killing and maiming Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, as well as brutally violating basic human rights in the occupied territories.”
Kuleba said, “Russia cannot ignore the voice of the world majority if we all take a principled stance and act together.”
He said, “the peace formula proposed by President Zelensky represents exactly such an opportunity. You are all aware of the formula’s ten points. They envisage not only the end of hostilities, but also proposals to strengthen food security, nuclear safety, environmental protection, energy security, international justice, human rights, and respect for the UN charter.”
For his part, Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said, “the reality is that there are no temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. But there are Russian regions such as Crimea - the 10th anniversary of the reunification which we will celebrate in March - and the regions which succeeded as a result of the legitimate expression of the people's will in the Donetsk and Luhansk republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.”
Nebenzya said, “we have heard and will continue to hear many lies on the subject today from the representatives of Kyiv and its Western sponsors behind this as a desire not just to distort the facts, but to rewrite history in general.”
The United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Russian President Vladimir Putin “tries to claim that Russia is fighting not against Ukraine, but against the whole of the West. He claims we are somehow out to dismember Russia. That is the central lie of this war. The truth is that we, myself included, spent years trying to build a new relationship with Moscow after the end of the Cold War. We did that because we profoundly believe that a secure, stable Russia at peace with its neighbours is in our interests and the world's.”
Outside the General Assembly Hall, Kuleba spoke with journalists and said, “people did not believe; experts, diplomats did not believe that Ukraine would survive the large-scale invasion by Russia. Today, the same people do not believe that Ukraine can win this war. They turned wrong once, and they will turn wrong again. Ukraine survived the invasion. Ukraine will win the war. And if we act collectively and jointly, this will happen rather sooner than later, sooner rather than later.”
Kuleba met today with Secretary-General António Guterres and discussed the war’s continuing devastating impact on civilians and critical infrastructure. The Secretary-General underlined the United Nations ongoing efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to vulnerable communities.
The Secretary-General reiterated the UN’s full commitment to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, within its internationally recognized borders.
The Secretary-General also underlined the UN’s support towards a just and lasting peace in line with the United Nations Charter, international law, and relevant General Assembly Resolutions.
The Secretary-General also met with Cameron and discussed the war in Ukraine and ongoing developments in Gaza and the Middle East region. They also discussed the Summit of the Future.
