The Foreign Ministers of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden, the Nordic Baltic 8, deplore Russia’s continued attacks on Ukrainian cities, residential areas and critical infrastructure.
Despite international efforts to put an end to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and to pave the way for just and lasting peace, Russia has intensified its attacks against Ukraine’s capital Kyiv as well as Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Odesa and many other cities. As a result, last week Ukraine’s authorities had to announce a country-wide state of emergency. Attacks against civilian infrastructure, including the use of nuclear capable strategic missiles, must stop.
We call on Russia to immediately cease all military operations targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Attacks clearly intended to cut off Ukrainian people from electricity, heating and water supplies in times of extremely harsh winter conditions constitute a clear breach of Russia’s obligations under international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes. We pay tribute to the extraordinary resilience of the Ukrainian people. However, resilience alone is not enough. Russia and its leadership must be held accountable for its violations of international law. In this regard, we welcome the progress made towards the establishment of a compensation mechanism for the victims of Russia’s war and a Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression.
Moreover, we are extremely concerned with Russia targeting Ukraine’s electrical sub-stations that are crucial for the secure functioning of Ukrainian nuclear power plants. We demand that Russia ceases actions putting into grave danger the nuclear safety and security of Ukraine and its civilian population as well as potentially affecting surrounding areas. We reiterate our support for the crucial role of the IAEA, commend the important work of its inspectors and underline the need to ensure their safe and unhindered access to Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. We urge the IAEA Board of Governors to take up this urgent matter to condemn the Russian attacks and strongly urge Russia to end this reckless and absolutely unacceptable behaviour.
We stand in full solidarity with Ukraine and its people and remain committed to supporting Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against further Russian aggression, including with financial and additional military support. We are also working with state institutions, private companies and civil society to urgently mobilize immediate funding and assistance to restore the functioning of Ukraine’s critical infrastructure and with humanitarian organisations to provide lifesaving assistance to the civilians. We welcome similar steps by other international partners.
We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to the universal principles of independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. We continue to support all efforts to end Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and achieve a just and lasting peace, in line with international law including the UN Charter.