Statement by H.E. Sanita Pavļuta-Deslandes, Permanent Representative of Latvia to the United Nations at the UN Security Council Briefing on Maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine
New York, 8 June 2026
Thank you, Madam President,
First, I thank USG DiCarlo for her factual briefing and looking forward to the briefing by the acting ASG Ratwatte.
The Council’s attention must not waver from Russia’s barbaric war against Ukrainian civilians. On 1 and 2 June, Russia launched its most destructive aerial assault to date with 656 drones and 73 missiles. The attacks killed 23 civilians and injured 145. In Kyiv alone, 11 education and 5 medical facilities were damaged. Just yesterday, a Russian drone struck the central spent nuclear fuel storage facility in the Chornobyl exclusion zone. We were a few hundred meters away from a highly dangerous disaster.
The evidence is overwhelming. Every verified statistic and every UN report shows a continued escalation of Russia’s attacks against Ukrainian civilians. In the first four months of 2026 Ukraine has seen 190 attacks on healthcare facilities, including maternity hospitals. Over 200 educational institutions have been damaged or destroyed. Child casualties increased by a horrifying 49%.
Statistics for May will be even worse. Early reporting indicates that May was the deadliest month for civilians since April 2022. Among the “so called Russia’s legitimate targets” were grieving families attending a funeral in Sumy.
Last week, Russian armed and security forces were listed by the UN for the systemic use of conflict-related sexual violence against prisoners of war and civilian detainees. Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has previously reported that 98.9% of freed detainees disclosed being tortured while in Russian custody, 75% of those being subject to sexual violence, 63% - multiple times.
Madam President,
We are calling meeting after meeting in an effort to bring a permanent member of a UN Security Council to its senses. And every time we deliver the same stark message –
Russia, stop killing civilians and humanitarian workers! Stop your war of aggression!
Yet Russia continues to reject reality. Despite Russia’s over 1.37 million military casualties since the start of the invasion, averaging roughly 35 000 a month in 2025, Russia refuses to accept the failure of the war it started and is increasingly resorting to illicit recruitment, manipulation, and coercion of individuals from Africa, the Americas, and Asia. Russia is unable to sustain recruitment at a level sufficient to replace its casualties.
Russia’s war economy is systemically degrading. Inflation is vastly underreported. A banking crisis is looming. The current budget shortfall already at this point is at 150% of what the Russian Ministry of Finance had forecast for the this year. Private businesses are now also expected to directly financing the war effort.
Things will only get worse for Russia.
Ukraine is growing stronger. And it has the innovation edge. Ukraine has become a security provider for Europe and for partners in the Gulf. Ukraine is succeeding in liberating territory.
When will Russia understand that its war of aggression is going nowhere?
Madam President,
No one wants peace more than Ukraine. In the last few days, the President of Ukraine has publicly and officially reiterated his call for a ceasefire and talks. His letter was derided and rejected by the President of Russia. This reconfirms publicly what we all already know. Russia does not want to talk; doesn’t want a ceasefire, not peace. Russia is the sole obstacle to peace.
Latvia supports the principles and the way forward charted by the leaders of France, the United Kingdom, and Germany on June 7, yeaterday. Our support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence remains ironclad.
Russia started this war. Russia can end it – by stopping its attacks on civilians, withdrawing its forces, and leaving Ukraine’s sovereign territory.
Enough is enough. The time for a ceasefire is now.