Canadian statement, delivered by Ambassador Bob Rae, at the Eleventh Emergency Special Session (Resumed) of the General Assembly of the United Nations (Ukraine) – 20^th plenary meeting, supporting the United Nations resolution on “Advancing a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine”, on February 24, 2025.

Thank you. Mr. President. Colleagues,

We are all assembled today for the cause of peace. On this issue, everyone appears to agree. But will it be peace with justice or not? That is the question before us today.

Let us count together the human cost of these three years of Russian aggression.

• According to the OHCHR, more than 12,000 civilians have been killed. And it continues. There are drone attacks every night, every day, even now as the world’s leaders are in Kyiv.
• More than 10 million Ukrainians have been displaced.
• Two million homes damaged or destroyed throughout Ukraine.

The situation is getting worse. Last year, more children were killed and more hospitals and schools destroyed than the previous year.

I said three years ago, when I took the podium in the first days after the invasion of Russia, and I say it now, that Russia’s actions are a flagrant violation of the United Nations’ Charter, its purposes, and its principles:

• the sovereign equality of all States;
• the right of all peoples to self-determination;
• the peaceful settlement of disputes and
• the prohibition of the use of force.

While President Putin has continued his war of aggression, our colleagues at the UN have amassed tons of evidence of Russia’s violations of international law and international humanitarian law, including:

• systematic torture, including sexual torture, and
• arbitrary execution of prisoners of war,
• the targeting of civilians and their infrastructure, in particular electricity,
• the illegal abduction of children from occupied territories of Ukraine.

These are realities we must address, and with this we must act together.

Mr. President, let us realize that while we are meeting and while we are talking, the drones are falling, falling even as international leaders are meeting in Kyiv.

Let us be clear, nothing justified this war, these annexations of Ukrainian territory, after sham votes at gunpoint.

Canada will be voting yes in favour of the Ukrainian motion, and in favour of amendments that speak out on the principles of the United Nations and the principles of the Charter.

We believe that the evidence shows that President Putin wants to expand a new Russian empire. That goal is incompatible with the principles and purposes of the United Nations’ Charter.

Mr. President, Canada wants peace for Ukraine. The world wants peace. Ukraine wants peace more than any member state here.

The question is, what kind of peace will it be? Will it be a peace based on justice, on the Charter, and on the principles for which we stand? Or will it be a peace that is the result of an imposition?

The cost of colonialism at gunpoint, the cost of Ukraine’s children, of its territory – these costs are too high. No state has the right to call on another to make these kinds of sacrifices.

We must not accept the lie that of all equal, sovereign states, Russia’s course is now somehow fixed, unmovable, that we must discard the UN Charter to accommodate President Putin’s imperial ambitions.

Russia could end this war today. They could stop the drones today. They could make sure they don’t drop on children tonight. They can send their troops home today.

We welcome the support of member states for Ukraine’s resolution. We once more urges all Member States to condemn the actions of Russia. Together we must stand for the values of the UN Charter, that Russia has tried and tries, each and every day, to destroy.

Ukrainians have been fighting and dying, not just to protect their sovereignty and their territory.

They’re fighting for all of us. They’re fighting to protect the principles that are enshrined in the UN Charter that have after all prevented worldwide war for close to 80 years now.

The peace that Ukraine seeks, as the Secretary General said yesterday, is a just, a sustainable, and a comprehensive peace – one that fully upholds Ukraine’s sovereignty, its independence, its territorial integrity within borders that are internationally recognized, in accordance with the UN Charter, with international law, and with the resolutions of the General Assembly.

Mr. President, as I close, I say to the delegation from Ukraine, and to the people and government of Ukraine.

You are fighting for us all, you are not just fighting for your own country.

What you have borne for three years is literally unbearable. We are inspired by your bravery. And we must match your bravery with our own courage today.

We are standing with you. Canada will always stand up for Ukraine.

Thank you very much, President.

Bob Rae is Canada’s permanent representative to the United Nations.