H.E. Ms Larysa Gerasko:

I thank the Chair. I am honoured to be here today to brief the distinguished members of the joint committee on the threats the Russian Federation poses to Ukraine and Europe in its entirety. Before I turn to my remarks, on behalf of the people of Ukraine, I extend our appreciation for Ireland's unwavering support at this unprecedented and challenging time for our country and people. Three days from now, on 24 February, Ukraine will mark one year since Russia began its full-scale invasion of our country. The only reason for this unprovoked aggression was the neo-imperial and expansionist ambitions of the Russian state and its top leadership. Despite a number of devastating defeats and its growing number of losses - as of today more than 144,000 have been killed - Russia continues to deny our legitimacy as a sovereign state and retains its maximalist goal to destroy Ukrainian statehood and the Ukrainian nation. Having already lost strategically, the Russian occupiers still have enough resources to conduct tactical offensives. More than 300,000 Russians are currently fighting in Ukraine. In revenge for its military losses on the ground, Russia continues to terrorise Ukrainian civilians. Recent months have been marked by intensive missile and drone attacks against Ukrainian civilians, critical infrastructure and residential areas, resulting in significant casualties and destruction.

On 10 February, Russia launched another massive missile and drone attack. Unfortunately, high-voltage infrastructure facilities were hit in the eastern, western and southern regions of Ukraine. Several Russian missiles flew over Moldovan airspace. Even today Russia was shelling Kherson and hit bus stops, car parks and some residential buildings. Unfortunately, six people, whom I underline were civilians, were killed and 21 people were injured. The terrible rocket attack on a multistorey building in the city of Dnipro on 14 January 2023 was another demonstration of the face of Russia. It is the face of a bloody monster-terrorist. A total of 45 people died during the tragedy, including six children, and 79 people, including 16 children were injured.

Russia`s invasion triggered one of the largest human displacement crises in the world today. Some 14 million Ukrainians, or one third of the population, have been displaced. Approximately 5.9 million people became internally displaced people, IDPs, and a further 8 million people have been forced to seek safety abroad. In this respect, we are grateful to Ireland for being one of the first to open its borders to Ukrainians, providing temporary protection to tens of thousands of them, as well as accommodation, access to the education and healthcare systems, language courses and many other things. I thank Ireland for that.

Russian troops systematically violate the norms of international humanitarian law and human rights in Ukraine, including deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians; their use of hostages and human shields; executions and rapes; forceful conscription and kidnapping; attacks on medical personnel and facilities; use of banned weapons and so on. I ask the committee to imagine the situation: more than 16,000 Ukrainian children were deported to Russia, including under the pretext of medical rehabilitation. Ukrainian law enforcement agencies registered the damage or destruction of more than 80,000 civilian infrastructure facilities, including more than 61,000 residential buildings and houses; more than 2,000 educational institutions; almost 500 medical institutions; 320 cultural buildings; 94 religious buildings; and almost 4,000 water and electricity networks. These numbers do not include the temporarily occupied areas in which the real level of destruction is much higher. In the recently occupied areas, Russia reproduces the same patterns it has been using in Crimea and parts of Donbas since 2014. It appoints an occupation administration and imposes Russian passports and Russian legislation. Thus, we are grateful to the Seanad for its decision to recognise both the ongoing Russian aggression and the Holodomor great famine of 1932 to 1933 as crimes of genocide. I thank Members for that. To call a spade a spade is very important to us.

Almost 50% of Ukraine’s energy system - most notably, thermal plants, hydroelectric power plants and the high-voltage network - has been damaged by Russia’s attacks. These brutal and unjustified attacks, which do not pursue any military objective, are systematic and ongoing. Our main priority is the quick restoration of the energy grid that has been severely damaged by Russia’s missile terror. This will include the following steps: repairing damaged power transmission and distribution lines wherever possible; restoring and decentralising generation wherever possible; implementing energy efficiency programmes; and strengthening cross-border electricity trade. We are, therefore, grateful to Ireland for providing transformers, generators and other energy equipment. At the same time, we continue to address our partners with a request to keep on providing Ukraine with the energy equipment necessary to restore Ukraine's energy system. Furthermore, the cost of environmental damage in Ukraine caused by Russia’s war against Ukraine is estimated at more than $46 billion. Almost 2,300 instances of environmental damage caused by the fighting have been recorded. Ukraine is one of the most mined countries in the world today. I ask the committee to imagine the situation, 35% of Ukraine’s territory, including 5.8% of agricultural land, requires de-mining. This will take at least five years. Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, approximately 500,000 explosive objects were identified and neutralised.

The Russian invaders are draining the Kakhovka reservoir, thereby creating an ecological disaster, depriving Ukrainian settlements downstream of water and endangering the safety of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the cooling systems of which depend on water in that reservoir.

Russia's ongoing military occupation of the six reactors of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant could cause large radioactive releases into the environment. Russia is a terrorist state. We call on the Oireachtas to recognise this in a corresponding motion.

Every Russian war criminal must be punished. The establishment of the special tribunal will enable Russia's political and military leadership to be prosecuted for the gravest crime, the crime of aggression. We call on Ireland to support its establishment. As we all see, the Russian meaning of peace is actually the complete opposite of what the civilised world sees as peace. We propose the implementation of the ten-element peace formula presented by President Zelenskyy at the G20 summit. This will bring comprehensive, just and lasting peace to Ukraine and security to the whole world. The formula's main goal is to deprive Russia of the tools to commit the crime of aggression against Ukraine and to guarantee security and justice for the entire international community. We call on countries across the globe to join in the process of its implementation. In the joint statement following the 24th Ukraine-EU summit, the EU expressed its support for the peace formula and committed to actively work with Ukraine on this peace plan. The elements of the peace formula are radiation and nuclear safety; food security; energy security; release of prisoners and deported persons; implementation of the UN Charter; restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity and the world order; withdrawal of Russian troops and the cessation of hostilities; restoration of justice; ecological safety; preventing escalation of the war and repetition of aggression; and, finally, confirmation of the end of the war.

These steps could be implemented one by one or simultaneously. We call on Ireland to take leadership or co-leadership in one or several of them. We will be glad to welcome Ireland's active involvement in this initiative. Ukraine greatly appreciates the recent groundbreaking decision of the 54 partner countries at the meeting of the Ukraine defence contact group at the Ramstein air base on 20 January 2023. This ensured large-scale supplies of artillery, armoured vehicles, rockets for MLRS and anti-aircraft guns. A subsequent meeting on 14 February 2023 provided for air defence systems, the tank coalition and ammunition reserves. The expansion of training programmes for servicemen will definitely strengthen our military capabilities at the decisive stage of the war.

At the same time, as long as Russian boots remain on Ukrainian ground we still need the means to deal with it. We hope for Ireland's further dynamic support on the European Peace Facility and the effective results of preparation within the framework of the EU military assistance mission for Ukraine. The sooner and the more security assistance Ukraine gets now, the sooner the war will end with a lasting and just peace. Ukraine's victory is critical to European and global security. As the famous Irish saying goes, ní neart go cur le chéile; there is no strength without unity. I apologise for my pronunciation but it is true - there is no strength without unity.

For many years, the aspiration to belong to the European Union, has been an important priority for Ukraine, its government and citizens. We would like to thank Ireland for its consistent support of Ukraine's journey to full membership of the EU. Ukraine is completing the implementation of seven recommendations of the European Commission and will hope for positive updates from the Commission on this issue in March. Ukraine aims to complete all the requirements for the earliest possible start of accession negotiations. We would be grateful if Ireland could share its experience with us to implement the necessary reforms to gain full EU membership as soon as possible and take our rightful place in the European family.

Dear members of the committee, our common fight against Russia should not only be on the battlefield. We have to cripple Russia's military economy. Sanctions are one of the most effective ways to do this. That is why we call on Ireland, along with other EU member states and our partners, to maintain consistency in increasing sanctions pressure. We are expecting the adoption of the tenth package of sanctions as soon as possible. Among our key priorities is the termination of air attacks on our cities and energy infrastructure and, therefore, in addition to the existing arms embargo, we call for global bans on the supply to the Russians federation of components and products for dual or civil air purposes that can be used for the production of offensive weapons, including missiles and drones.

There is an urgent need for sanctions in the nuclear power industry. The sanctions should address the designation of persons involved in attempts to seize the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and blackmail by nuclear incidents at the plant. There should also be a ban on cooperating with Russian nuclear energy by broadening the definition of the energy sector. On February 12, President Zelenskyy put into effect the decision of the national security and defence council of Ukraine to impose sanctions against 200 employees of the Russian nuclear industry. Among the priorities is the strengthening of the energy embargo as a main source of financing the war. It is important to introduce restrictions on the importation of iron ore and critical raw materials, including titanium, aluminium, copper, nickel, palladium, rhodium and diamonds.

We welcome the intention of our partners in the EU to synchronise sanctions against Russia and Belarus in the next package of sanctions. The regime of Lukashenko in Belarus remains the Kremlin's proxy in its war against Ukraine. The territory of Belarus is used for training and logistical purposes. We are also grateful to the EU for the unanimous decision of the EU Council on November 28 to include the violation of restrictive measures to the list of EU crimes included in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. This is an important step to put pressure on Russia. This expands the list of crimes, the committing of which provides legal grounds for the confiscation of assets and their sales. We all know, that like all wars, this war will end. Unfortunately, the damage dealt to Ukraine by Russian attacks accounts for hundreds of billions of euro.

With this in mind, a fast recovery plan was created. The cost is at least €17 billion for immediate critical reconstruction, such as hospitals, schools, vital transport and energy infrastructure. In addition, we have a huge need for housing reconstruction, which Russian tanks and artillery methodically destroy. One of the sources to fill this fund should be Russian assets. Those that have already been frozen and those that still need to be frozen are significant. A significant part of these assets is in the jurisdiction of European countries, with €1.8 billion in Ireland. We need a very fast legal mechanism for directing Russian assets to compensate for the losses caused by the Russian war. The scale of the destruction to the Ukrainian economy is difficult to overestimate, as this is the biggest blow since the Second World War. As a result, there is a radical change in the system of intersectoral relations and the economy's structure as a whole.

The economy of Ukraine has experienced a large negative shock, with GDP contracting by at least 30%. It has lost 30% to 50% of its productive capacity, with losses concentrated in eastern Ukraine. However, even in the conditions of full-scale war launched by Russia, with a shattered economy, Ukraine retains its place among the world's top five agricultural exporters, being one of the guarantors of the world's food security. Since the start of the war, Ukraine has exported more than 50 million tonnes of grains, oilseeds and processed products to provide food for hundreds of millions of people across the globe. The destructive Russian policy of delaying the inspection of vessels resulted in a systematic decrease in the freight turnover within the Black Sea grain initiative. In the past three months, the world received less than 10 million tonnes of Ukrainian food. The situation is deteriorating further. A queue of more than 140 vessels has formed in the Bosporus, the vast majority of which have been waiting there for more than a month. We expect a reaction by the UN and Turkey. This initiative should be expanded to Ukrainian ports in the Mykolaiv region. The grain from Ukraine humanitarian programme returned vital food stability to the world. More than 30 countries and the EU joined. The amount of accumulated funds provided by international partners for this programme is about $200 million. We hope that Ireland will become one of the donors to this initiative.

Ukraine wants peace more than any other country does but we will not accept peace at any cost. We will not agree to anything that keeps Ukraine's territory occupied and puts our people at the mercy of the aggressor. Russia must be stopped now because appeasing the aggressor will lead to more atrocities elsewhere.

On the one hand, Russia pretends to be ready for peace talks while on the other it keeps ramping up its efforts on the battlefield in an attempt to turn the tide of war in its favour. Ukraine reiterates its demand that the Russian Federation immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraws all its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders and calls for a cessation of hostilities. This war is not only about Ukraine. Russia's brutal attack destroyed global security and endangered all nations. This war must end with the triumph of international law and the UN Charter. Justice must be restored for Ukraine, Europe, and the whole world.