These Potemkin referenda do not fool us. They do not change the facts on the ground. Putin and his Kremlin cronies can lie to themselves and the Russian people, but the world sees the truth.

Wherever Ukraine liberates its territory, we see the horrors Russia leaves behind in its wake.

Russia’s forces lost the battle of Kyiv in March, and now we see them abandoning their tanks and BMPs and running – sometimes literally – back to Russia.

Any Kremlin claims that Ukraine’s people yearn to be annexed by Russia are flat-out lies and propaganda. 

Today, as the United States has and will continue to do, we stand with a sovereign, democratic Ukraine as it celebrates and defends its independence.

Since our Russia colleagues seem so eager now to view Amnesty International’s reports as evidence of potential misconduct, perhaps they would be willing to respond to some of the findings Amnesty has released since the war began on February 24.

Russia’s brutal attack on its peaceful, sovereign neighbor has now entered its sixth month and the human costs are quite simply staggering. 

Russia must end this war now before the moral and economic bankruptcy of this so-called “special military operation” causes more suffering. 

Are you appalled by the death of a four-year-old girl and seven and eight-year-old boys? Are those military targets? Did their lives have value to you? Does it matter that they are now dead?

You are engaged as a representative of the Russian Federation in propaganda on behalf of a regime that is consistently striking civilians and civilian objects across Ukraine

With every unconscionable strike hitting Ukrainian civilians, the Russian government reveals its true nature to the world. 

The United States and our partners will continue providing the humanitarian, economic, and security assistance Ukraine needs to defend itself against Russia’s barbaric and unprovoked aggression. 

All those responsible for forced transfers of Ukrainian civilians to Russia will be identified and held to account for violations of international law.

Only by ending Russia’s aggression once and for all will the people of Ukraine ensure that their children no longer have to fear the shriek of a Russian missile in the night sky.

Russia continues to deploy far-right ultranationalism in service of subjugating Ukraine, and in service of supporting neo-Nazi and extreme right-wing nationalist movements throughout Europe.

We should never forget that the people of Ukraine are fighting for the survival of their country, of their families, of their cultural identity, and of their communities.

The unimaginable suffering of the men, women, and children of Kherson at the hands of Russia’s forces starkly illustrates the existential stakes of this war.  

Fifteen weeks of violence, with so many reports of executions, forced deportations, rapes, filtration camps, and destruction that it is becoming difficult to fully grasp the enormity of the carnage being perpetrated by the Russian Federation. 

Members of the Special Monitoring Mission have been detained and some have gone missing in eastern Ukraine.  This is completely unacceptable. No one should be a target because of their unbiased and loyal service to this Organization. 

The sheer barbarity, sadistic cruelty, and lawlessness of Russia’s military campaign is now plain for all the world to see. 

Russia’s long track record of accusing others of the violations it itself is perpetrating, or plans to perpetrate, raises the possibility that the Kremlin may be laying the predicate for a false flag operation using biological or chemical weapons.

Ukraine must win so that we do not ever give in to a “might makes right” world order. And it must win so that Ukraine’s farmers can again feed the world.  The stakes could not be any higher.

It is the collective duty of our countries to continue our unprecedented support to Ukraine as it fights for the freedom of its country and its people and the values we share.

We are committed to using every available tool to ensure Russia is held accountable for its monstrous atrocities.

Mr. Chair, in spite of Russia’s brutal aggression, the people of Ukraine know who they are. No bullets, no mortars or missiles can ever purge Ukraine from the hearts of its people.

As we enter the third month of Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression, Ukraine stands as strong, united, and resolute as ever.

This is a war for sovereignty against subjugation, for independence against imperialism, for the principles of international law against the brute force of a predatory power.  The task before us is to rise to the moment and provide Ukraine with the capabilities it requires.

The United States will continue to use the full range of its tools and resources to support documentation and accountability efforts, together with our allies and partners.

We are committed to using every tool available to ensure those responsible are held accountable for atrocities.

Mr. Chair, let there be no doubt: Russia’s war on Ukraine – the death and trauma that Putin’s regime is inflicting on Ukraine’s next generation – will never be forgotten. 

We will help the people of Ukraine fight for this future for as long as it takes.

We call on Russia to cease its aggression, observe the ceasefire, fully implement its Minsk commitments, and withdraw its forces from Ukraine’s sovereign territory.

Russia’s long-standing efforts to hinder the work of this Mission are a clear demonstration of Moscow’s unwillingness to take its Minsk commitments seriously.