Russian casualties in every 10 days same as in 10 years of Afghanistan war - Sybiha at UN
Currently, Russia suffers nearly 1,500 daily casualties in the ongoing war against Ukraine, and every 10 days, their casualties are comparable with those the Soviet Union suffered throughout the 10-year war in Afghanistan.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha stressed this on Monday at a meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"These are the bloodiest occupied square meters ever, this also shows how low the price of human life is in Russia," the minister noted.
Sybiha also spoke of the strikes targeting residential buildings, executions and torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war, and crimes against children.
Since 2022, Russia has killed at least 659 children, and the number continues to rise, he said.
"The forced deportation of at least 20,000 Ukrainian children may be the largest child abduction operation carried out by the state in history," the foreign minister noted, adding that Russia's actions violate the Genocide Convention.
The list of atrocities committed by Russia in Ukraine also proves that the current international instruments of prosecution for the crime of aggression have failed, Sybiha said, calling for a precedent to be set or the existing mechanisms to be changed.
According to the minister, Russia's rapprochement with North Korea and Iran poses threats to the whole world, as these countries seek to obtain missile, nuclear, and other military technologies from Moscow.
"For Russia, this is also a war for natural resources," he said. “A very colonial approach. They try to capture Ukraine’s rich deposits of manganese ore, uranium, titanium, and other resources."
He recalled that Russia's naval blockade of Ukrainian ports led to food shortages and record high food prices in the world. Moscow is also weaponizing energy. This war has become one of the main factors in slowing global economic growth and increasing inflation.
The flagrant violation of international law has caused a global security crisis, Sybiha noted.
He stressed the need for stronger sanctions, as next year Moscow plans to allocate $146 billion to military needs, while Russia's shadow fleet alone could bring in at least $120 billion in oil revenue.
"We must cut these bloody revenues," the minister said.
He called on countries not to equate Ukraine and Russia, putting them on the same footing merely as two sides of the war.
"This is not a conflict between two parties. This is a war of aggression. Russia is the aggressor. Ukraine defends itself. False moral equivalence must stop,” he said.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, Sybiha on Monday took part in the meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the Russian war, timed to mark the 1,000th day of the full-scale invasion.