Statement by Representative of Slovenia to the UN Security Council Ambassador Samuel Žbogar at the briefing on the maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine

I shall now make a statement in my capacity as the Representative of Slovenia.

I would like to thank Ms. Msuya for her briefing.

After the last time the Council met on this topic, when the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital was hit in early July, killing and destruction across Ukraine has been intensifying. Since then, more than 1700 long-range weapons systems, including missiles and drone strikes have hit homes, schools and hospitals. According to WHO, more than a third of global attacks against healthcare facilities during the months of June and July occurred in Ukraine.

As we have heard in one of the previous briefings, July has been the deadliest month for civilians in almost two years. Sadly, the escalation continued, as it became clear with the August 26 strike, when Russia launched what seems to have been the largest air assault since the war began. More than 200 drones and missiles were launched to hit targets across Ukraine. Unabated, these attacks have continued throughout last week, killing dozens of people and injuring hundreds, damaging and destroying civilian infrastructure in multiple cities throughout Ukraine, from Lviv to Poltava, from Sumy to Zaporizhzhia.

Moreover, the UN has repeatedly documented Russia’s “double-tap” strikes tactics against civilians and first responders, which is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and may constitute a war crime.

As we heard from Ms. Msuya, when it comes to critical civilian infrastructure, the energy infrastructure ends up in the crosshairs of Russian missiles particularly often. Reportedly, Russia destroyed 80 % of Ukraine’s thermal energy generation and a third of its hydro generation capacity. Just in June, 33 attacks on energy infrastructure were registered. Let me be clear: these are not legitimate military targets and these attacks clearly run counter to the provisions of international humanitarian law. The only goal here is to oppress the civilian population and make their lives harder during the approaching winter months.

There were no exceptions to this tactic in the last few weeks, when mainly electricity distribution infrastructure was targeted. This had far-reaching consequences for nuclear safety and security, as the widespread strikes caused major fluctuations in the power supply and led to the temporary shutdown or disconnection of reactor units in two Ukrainian nuclear power plants.

Colleagues,

The nuclear safety and security situation in the region is perilous and we need to ensure full respect of the seven indispensable pillars for nuclear safety and security and the five basic principles for the protection of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. A nuclear accident in the midst of war would be devastating for the whole region and would have global impacts. The Council must engage in order to address and prevent this from happening.

 I resume my function as the President of the Council.

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