United States Mission to the United Nations
Office of Press and Public Diplomacy
For Immediate Release
February 21, 2022
Statement by Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield in Support of Ukraine’s Call for an Urgent Security Council Meeting
Today, Russia announced that it will recognize as “independent states” parts of the sovereign territory of Ukraine in its Donbas region, which is currently controlled by Russia’s proxies. This is an unprovoked violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
We support Ukraine’s call for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council. The Security Council must demand that Russia respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, a UN Member State. The Kremlin’s actions today are a wholesale rejection of the Minsk agreements and a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2202 (2015). Russia’s announcement is nothing more than theater, apparently designed to create a pretext for a further invasion of Ukraine.
Every UN Member State has a stake in what comes next. Russia’s actions threaten the international order that, since World War II, has stood for the principle that one country cannot unilaterally redraw another country’s borders. This principle is enshrined in the UN Charter which all Member States pledge to uphold.
We must all stand with Ukraine in the face of this brazen attempt to usurp Ukraine’s sovereign territory. There can be no fence-sitters in this crisis.
###
