Statement by H.E. Mr. Mykola Tochytskyi, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, at the Side-event “Nuclear Safety & Security Situation in Ukraine

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.

Almost 50 years ago, the States Parties to the Treaty on the Non - Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons convened for the first time to review its operation.

Back then, the nuclear arms race was in full swing, a number of nuclear weapon states was on the rise. The Cold War between the USA and the USSR was dragging the world powers into the whirl of aggressive rhetoric, conspicuousness and accumulation of weapons. The concepts of human rights, scientific advancement and sustainable development have not yet crystalized as the prerequisites of universal welfare as we know them today.

Yet, despite the major disagreements between them, the leaders of the past managed to put aside their political ambitions and territorial disputes and for a brief moment of time thought about the consequences of their dangerous adventurism.

Their efforts materialized in a final declaration, which among other things proclaimed the importance of maintaining an acceptable balance of mutual responsibilities and obligations of all States Parties to the Treaty, which possess or do not possess nuclear weapons.

Moreover, the very same people who built their political careers while bearing the mentality of constant confrontation between opposing doctrines of governing managed to emphasize the particular importance of assuring and strengthening the security of non-nuclear weapon States.

Let us fast forward to 2022, when security of all is now jeopardized mostly by one nuclear weapon state – the russian federation.

Today, we cannot fail to acknowledge that the threats origin has been evolved: from irresponsible policies of the rogue states, such as DPRK, potential risk from falling nuclear material into the hands of non-state actors, to the attacks on nuclear facilities, located on the territory of non-nuclear state, by the nuclear power, which is the russian federation.

From the beginning of the russia’s war against Ukraine the russian armed forces have been indiscriminately targeting Ukraine’s infrastructure, including critical facilities thus creating unprecedented nuclear threats to Ukraine and far beyond.

Although the war has been raging in Ukraine since 2014, the full scale russian invasion in February 2022 exposed inability of the international organizations to provide adequate answer to the new challenges and nuclear risks related to war. International Atomic Energy Agency so far has not elaborated reliable plan of action in case if nuclear power plant is under shelling by heavy weaponry or becomes an object for constant overflies of the cruise missiles.

We have been witnessing the barbaric attacks on both non-functioning Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the largest active Nuclear Power Plant in Europe in Enerhodar.

For the first time in history, civil nuclear facilities have become a factor in warfare tactics. The aggressor state treats NPPs like a normal battleground, it doesn’t try at all to care about nuclear safety. Russians use the Ukrainian nuclear facilities as a springboard for the attacks on the Ukrainian military and civil objects as well as a warehouse for their explosive ammunition.

Since the seizure of the Ukrainian NPPs, there has been a constant physical and psychological pressure on the employees as well as on the local residents - kidnappings, illegal detentions, interrogations, torture and blocking communications.

Dear colleagues,

The russian missiles systematically fly over the functioning Ukrainian nuclear power plants, highly increasing the risk of nuclear accidents given the low accuracy of the russian strikes.

A particular madness lies in the fact that Russia is one among the states which suffered from the consequences of the nuclear disaster that happened in 1986 in Chornobyl.

But moscow behaves like a monkey with a nuclear grenade.

Apart from the gross violations of international law, the world community is witnessing how nuclear terrorism, sponsored by the nuclear-weapon state – the russian federation – is arising in reality.

Dear colleagues,

The ongoing unprovoked war against Ukraine has clearly demonstrated that the global non-proliferation process is in dire straits.

The effectiveness of the soft tools in possession of the UN to prevent unprovoked invasive wars by a nuclear weapon state has been seriously jeopardized by russia.

The term “threat” has become dominant in the NPT review process. The risk of a major man-made nuclear disaster in Europe is growing.

We need to find more viable ways to protect nuclear material and facilities in a war situation.

On behalf of my delegation, I would like to encourage you all to carefully consider the implications of the russian war against Ukraine for the future of the NPT and the process of disarmament.

We need to act immediately and save the integrity of the NPT.

We should make the non-nuclear status to be popular again. But against the current international security background, which is so fragile, the achievement of this goal requires concerted endeavors.

I thank you all and hope we will have a fruitful discussion.