Speaking at a United Nations Security Council meeting about Ukraine, Andrzej Duda said: "Looking from the perspective of my region, February 24th, 2022 is a date when the world as we knew it changed permanently."
He added: "Russia’s full–scale invasion of Ukraine was a defining moment in geopolitics, transforming Europe's security landscape and tearing down the core pillar of our international system."
Duda told his UN audience, as quoted by his office: "This strategic change is not temporary. We are living in a new era of uncertainty."
Russia's war on Ukraine 'is not a bilateral or regional issue'
He also said that Russia's "hideous actions" in Ukraine, together with "continuous negation of the international order," including the UN Charter, "prove that an imperialistic Russia is discrediting itself as a member of international community."
He further stated: "Russia’s continuing neo–colonial aggression against Ukraine is not a bilateral or a regional issue. It concerns us all. If we don’t act in solidarity today to defend the fundamental values of international law, tomorrow may be too late."
Duda told the UN Security Council that Poland "has been making efforts to hold Russia and individual Russian citizens accountable for their flagrant violations of international law and the UN Charter."
He declared: "We support the work of the existing jurisdictions, such as the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court and the European Court of Human Rights."
He also supported the creation of a special international tribunal to prosecute Russian war crimes and "an international mechanism to repair the damage and compensate for the losses caused by Russia."
"The perpetrators of international crimes must not go unpunished," Duda said. "They should be tried before competent courts. This should be our imperative to ensure a lasting peace in the future."
He concluded: "The war in Ukraine has permanently changed the global security architecture. Regardless of its final result, we will have to face a new political, military and economic reality which will last until a new security system is formed. A system with no place for aggression, imperialism and neo–colonialism."
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
Wednesday is day 574 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, president.pl