Two years ago, Russia invaded its neighbor, Ukraine. But that war did not begin on February 24, 2022. It has been ongoing in the country's east since 2014, when Russian-trained and armed proxies in the so-called Donbas region attempted to break away from Ukraine and integrate into Russia. Numerous efforts to settle the situation by diplomatic means, the so-called Minsk Agreements, did not result in a lasting solution. “Russia … ignored all commitments it made as a signatory of the Minsk agreements,” said U.S. Alternate Representative to the UN, Robert Wood.
“Russia – and no one else – is responsible for this war, which has caused so much bloodshed in the past decade. Russia invaded Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and eastern Ukraine. It funded, prepared, and led proxy forces in an attempt to establish an artificial pretext to prevent Ukrainians from exercising their right to self-determination,” he said.
No amount of disinformation, or attempts by the Russian Federation to re-write history, can change that fact, said Ambassador Wood:
“Russia is and always has been the sole instigator of this conflict. It participated directly in the negotiation of the Minsk agreements, and its direct representative signed the three documents constituting the agreements in 2014 and 2015 … Russia reaffirmed at the Normandy Four Summit in 2019 that all three Minsk agreements remained the basis for the peace process.”
“And then Russia launched a full-scale invasion of the sovereign nation of Ukraine,” said Ambassador Wood.
“While other Minsk agreement signatories sought to implement their commitments in good faith, President Putin cast them aside in favor of revanchist greed,” he said.
“Russia’s ultimate intention remains to fully subjugate Ukraine and deny the existence of a unique Ukrainian identity. The fundamental purpose of the Minsk agreements, as defined by all signatories, was to fully reintegrate the conflict area with the rest of Ukraine and restore Ukraine’s territorial integrity – but Russia is not interested in peace.”
We learned from the debacle of the Minsk Agreements that peace agreements alone will not end the violence, because Russia is not interested in abiding by international law.
“Putin’s decision to launch an unprovoked and unjustifiable war against his neighbor, … have fully and forever nullified the Minsk agreements,” said Ambassador Wood. “The United States calls on Russia to stop its relentless attacks against Ukraine and its people, withdraw its forces from Ukraine’s territory, and end this brutal war today.”
