AS DELIVERED
AMBASSADOR LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD: I am truly honored to be meeting with Foreign Minister Kuleba today. I’m pleased to welcome you to the U.S. Mission. This is our second meeting. We met a year ago before this horrible war started in Ukraine. You made it clear then that no one would be able to sit out this crisis when Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
And that is clear to us today as it was then. That’s a message I’ve carried forward over the past six months: that there’s no sitting on the sidelines, that all Member States must defend the UN Charter. Our commitment to Ukraine during your time of need is unwavering. And I want to reaffirm that today. I’m looking forward to our discussion today. I’m looking forward to how we address these issues over the course of this week, when we have so many heads of state, so many countries here in New York.
But let me say, unequivocally, our support for Ukraine remains strong.
FOREIGN MINISTER DMYTRO KULEBA: Thank you. It’s my pleasure to see you again. I remember our previous conversation. And even before the war started, your message to us was very clear: that whatever happens, the United States will stand by Ukraine until Ukraine wins. And this will apply not only for our bilateral relations, but, of course, also the United Nations. And you have kept your word.
The people of Ukraine deeply appreciate everything the United States have done to support us since 24th of February, in particular. But there’s a lot of work that remains to be done to win the war and therefore to protect peace and security in the world. Because Russian aggression was not an attack on just Ukraine. It was an attack on the world based on rules, was an attack on nations – on the most fragile nations – who are now suffering because of hiking prices and food insecurity, food shortages.
We do have a capacity to resolve these problems if we stay united. And one of the topics for our presence here in New York is this. We’ll be actually consolidating the global coalition, including with a special focus on the so-called Global South countries in order to protect the world from countries who want to destroy it.
AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Thank you.
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