The occupation and threat of a terrorist attack by russia on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant endangers the entire OSCE area.

This was stated by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in his online address to the OSCE Chairpersonship Security Review Conference.

“Today, russia is threatening Ukraine and the entire OSCE area with a radiation incident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. No matter what russian propaganda says, it is russia and only russia that has the motivation and means to cause an incident at the ZNPP,” the Minister said.

Dmytro Kuleba stressed that by occupying the plant and turning it into a military base, russia was using the ZNPP as an instrument of nuclear blackmail.

“I don’t know what else needs to happen for the OSCE participating states to recognise the obvious: russia has no place at this table,” he stressed.

The Minister recalled that three weeks ago, russia blew up the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, causing the largest technological disaster in Europe in decades and a crime of ecocide. This act of terrorism has taken russia’s war crimes to a new level, and the true extent of its consequences for people and the environment will only become clear with time.

The Minister expressed his gratitude to the North Macedonian Chairmanship for its firm stance in defending OSCE principles in the face of russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine.

“We cannot tolerate russia’s impunity, the illegal detention of OSCE staff and the theft of more than 70 OSCE vehicles. There can be no talks with a country whose president is wanted by the ICC for the war crime of abducting Ukrainian children. There can be no hope of civilised dialogue with a country that launches intensive missile and drone attacks on densely populated residential areas, commits mass atrocities, tortures, rapes and intimidates civilians. There can be no search for understanding with the aggressor who is trying to destroy Ukrainian statehood and national identity,” said Dmytro Kuleba.

The Minister stressed that Ukraine had no choice but to fight for its freedom and restore its territorial integrity. He recalled that Ukraine had a solid vision for the restoration of a just and lasting peace, as detailed in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula.

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister called on the OSCE to actively participate in the implementation of the Peace Formula.

“We live in a time of challenges, when discussions without pragmatic solutions no longer work. If we want to preserve the OSCE and our collective commitment to the values and principles of the Helsinki Final Act, we must find a way to suspend russia’s participation in the OSCE,” the Minister concluded.