ONTARIO
The foreign ministers of France, the UK and Denmark on Wednesday urged Russia to end its war on Ukraine, warning that Russian sabotage, cyberattacks and airspace violations are creating wider security risks across Europe.
Speaking at a high-level UN Security Council session on Ukraine, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who is chairing the council this month, said Russia is “using winter, the cold, and denial of the most basic needs as weapons of mass destruction, targeting civilian population.”
He said Russia is “lashing out at Europe in its entirety” through alleged targeted killings, sabotage, cyberattacks and disinformation, adding that repeated airspace violations involving Romania, Poland, Moldova, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Finland mean “there is not one state who is not now ill at ease” because of Russian aggression. He also pointed to a recent incident in Leipzig, Germany.
Barrot warned that Russia, “trampled upon by a permanent member of the Security Council,” is weakening the UN’s authority, and said Ukraine “is ready for peace” but has met only “Moscow’s stubbornness.”
UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said sham elections in occupied Ukrainian territory are “a blatant violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty,” warning that “we cannot accept the changing of borders by force.”
He said NATO “is and always will be a defensive alliance” and pledged to “continue to call out and act against Russia’s hostile activity.” Miliband, whose parents fled Poland and Belgium as refugees during World War II, said “it is time ministers told President Putin the truth,” adding that “the Russian people can feel” Russia is “failing” in the war.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said “if Russia stops fighting, the war ends. If Ukraine stops fighting, it will be the very end of Ukraine.”
He said Denmark “strongly condemns all attacks in violation of international humanitarian law,” warning of a “dangerous spiral of escalation” as civilian infrastructure and energy facilities come under attack ahead of winter.
Rasmussen said attacks on Ukrainian ports and grain infrastructure “threatened trade, livelihoods, and global food supplies,” and cited Germany’s attribution of a “failed hybrid attack” at Leipzig-Halle airport to Russia as one of several “reckless and dangerous acts” affecting Europe.
He said Denmark “will continue to provide financial and security assistance” to Ukraine, pledging support for reconstruction, humanitarian aid and increased pressure on Russia “through tough EU sanctions.”
All three foreign ministers linked the war in Ukraine to broader security risks across Europe and called for sustained diplomatic and economic pressure on Moscow to bring it to the negotiating table.
