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OSCE Permanent Council No.1483 Vienna, 18 July 2024

18.07.2024 Press and information team of the Delegation to UN and OSCE in Vienna

EU Statement on the Russian Federation's ongoing aggression against Ukraine

1. In the week following Russia's appalling attacks on Ukraine on 8 July, not only has Russia not shown any sign of remorse, but it has continued its ruthless assault on Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure, further disregarding its obligations under international humanitarian law. Recent examples include Russia's shelling of settlements in Donetsk Oblast on 12 July, which killed at least six civilians and Russia's attacks on Kherson and Kharkiv Oblasts on 13 July, which claimed the lives of seven more innocent people. In Kharkiv Oblast, Russia's deplorable tactic of "double tap" missile attacks on 14 July resulted in the deaths of a police officer and an emergency responder who were assisting wounded civilians. According to the UN, at least 146 civilians, including eight children, were killed in June alone.
2. On 12 July, demonstrating further contempt for international law and OSCE principles and commitments, Russia, through a puppet "court" in the so-called DPR, "sentenced" a third OSCE SMM official, Vadym Golda, to 14 years on fabricated espionage charges. We join OSCE Chair-in-Office Minister Borg and Secretary General Schmid in unequivocally condemning this injustice and demanding the immediate release of Vadym Golda, Maxim Petrov and Dmytro Shabanov, all three arbitrarily detained by Russia
3. Motivated by our commitment to justice, on 15 July, the EU Delegation to the OSCE, together with the Delegations of Ukraine and the United States, held an event with representatives of The Reckoning Project. This initiative aims to pursue accountability for Russia's war crimes in Ukraine through the collection of testimonies to be used for legal and other accountability mechanisms. The event focused on the unlawful deportation and indoctrination of Ukrainian children by Russia, as well as on Russia's widely used practice of torture in places of detention. The representatives of the initiative exposed the systematic state policy behind these gross violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law in Ukraine by Russia. Moreover, the event featured testimony of a medical professional working at Okhmatdyt children's hospital, who described the tragic civilian casualties and enormous loss of medical equipment, resulting from Russia's destruction of this medical facility.
4. These accounts and testimony add to the growing body of evidence of Russia's crimes in Ukraine, collected by multiple reputable international monitoring mechanisms, including the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission, ODIHR's Ukraine Monitoring Initiative and the OSCE Moscow Mechanism expert missions. Civil society is also playing a critical role in documenting evidence of Russia's crimes and in contributing to international accountability efforts. Let us recall some of the findings.
5. The dedicated Moscow Mechanism Report of May 2023 established that Russia has forcibly transferred or deported thousands of Ukrainian children, subjecting them to numerous and overlapping violations of their rights, including the rights to identity and family. According to the report, after their forced displacement, Ukrainian children find themselves in an entirely unfamiliar Russian environment, and are exposed to pro-Russian information campaigns, often amounting to targeted re-education, or are subjected to military education.
6. Numerous reports by international bodies provide evidence that torture and ill-treatment have been widely used by Russian forces in detention facilities in those parts of Ukraine that were, or remain temporarily and illegally occupied by Russia, in violation of international law. Witnesses and survivors testify to a general lack of distinction between PoWs and civilians, with both categories of persons often detained in the same facilities and subjected to similar practices of torture and ill-treatment, ranging from severe beatings and sexual violence to electric shocks and mock executions.
7. According to the OCHA, the destruction of two medical centres in Ukraine during Russia's wave of attacks on Kyiv on 8 July is part of "a deeply concerning pattern of systemic attacks, harming health care and other civilian infrastructure in Ukraine". WHO has verified more than 1,800 attacks, affecting health-care facilities, personnel, transport, supplies and patients since the beginning of Russia's illegal, unprovoked and unjustifiable war of aggression. The toll on the most vulnerable is equally staggering, with hundreds of Ukrainian children killed and thousands wounded.
8. The EU will sustain its support for efforts by national and international investigative bodies and monitoring mechanisms in gathering evidence of Russia's violations of international humanitarian and international human rights law in Ukraine. There can be no impunity for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other crimes committed in the context of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine,including the crime of aggression. All those responsible must and will be held accountable.
9. We remain steadfast in our support for Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders. We reconfirm our unwavering commitment to providing continued political, financial, economic, humanitarian, legal, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine and its people for as long as it takes and as intensely as needed, also taking into account the critical importance of accelerated and intensified deliveries of military material based on Ukraine's urgent needs.
10. The path to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace is for the aggressor, Russia, to immediately cease its ruthless attacks against the Ukrainian people and stop its war of aggression, completely and unconditionally withdraw all its forces and military equipment from the entire territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders, and respect Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. We urge all countries not to provide material or other support for Russia's war of aggression, which is a blatant violation of international law, including the UN Charter, and the OSCE's core principles and commitments.