Three Hundred Sixty-Five days after Putin and his thugs invaded the sovereign nation of Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in remarks at the UN Security Council minced no words – and no numbers – to let the world know the litany of atrocities and crimes against humanity Vladimir Putin and his troops have committed and to call on the international community not to let Putin’s crimes “become our new normal.”
First the numbers:
• Tens of thousands of Ukrainian men, women, and children have been killed.
• More than 13 million Ukrainian people have been uprooted from their homes.
• More than 700 hospitals and 2,600 schools have been bombed.
• Putin has destroyed more than half of the country’s energy grid.
• At least 6,000 Ukrainian children – some as young as four months old – have been abducted and relocated to Russia.
And, according to the Secretary of State:
When Ukraine launched a counteroffensive that retook large swaths of its territory, President Putin conscripted an additional 300,000 men – throwing more and more of Russia’s young people into a meat grinder of his own making. And he unleashed the Wagner Group – mercenaries who have committed atrocities from Africa to the Middle East, and now, in Ukraine.
“And yet, the spirit of the Ukrainians remains unbroken; if anything, it’s stronger than ever,” Blinken says, citing examples of the bravery and resilience of the Ukrainian people: “Teachers and community members give classes in bunkers to children. City workers improvise patches to restore heat and power and water to residents. Neighbors set up soup kitchens to feed the hungry.”
On a more personal level, Blinken recalls the impression a painting by a young Ukrainian girl made on him:
One painting I saw was made by a ten-year-old girl named Veronika. Last April, Russian forces shelled her home in Vuhledar, killing her whole family. When first responders dug her from the rubble, a piece of shrapnel was lodged in her skull. Her left thumb had been ripped off. Doctors saved her life, but the attack left her right hand mostly paralyzed, and she can’t see out of her left eye.
In her painting, Veronika drew herself in a bright pink and orange dress, holding a bouquet of flowers. A building stands next to her. When asked who lived there, she said it was a place where all the people she knew who had been killed in the war could be safe.
The Secretary emphasizes: “Bombing schools and hospitals and apartment buildings to rubble is not normal. Stealing Ukrainian children from their families and giving them to people in Russia is not normal,” and places the blame squarely on Russia and Putin:
In this war, there is an aggressor and there is a victim.
Russia fights for conquest. Ukraine fights for its freedom.
The fact remains: One man – Vladimir Putin – started this war; one man can end it.
Blinken urges the international community to:
“…not let President Putin’s callous indifference to human life become our own.”
“…continue to compile evidence of Russia’s ongoing and widespread atrocities, including executions; torture; rape and sexual violence; the deportation of thousands of Ukrainian civilians to Russia.”
“…continue to document Russia’s war crimes and crimes against humanity, and share this evidence with investigators and prosecutors, so that one day, the perpetrators can be held accountable.”
Quoting from the UN Charter, “We the peoples of the United Nations determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war…” Blinken concludes:
Fellow members of this council: Now is the time to meet that promise. There are so many people in Ukraine who want the same thing as that little girl, Veronika: a world where they can live in peace, in their own country, and keep the people they love safe.
We have the power, we have the responsibility to create that world, today and for generations to come. We cannot – we will not – let one country destroy it.
