Ukraine's Temporarily Occupied Territories: Statement During General Assembly Debate

Thank you, Mr. President,

I thank the President of the General Assembly for convening this debate on such an urgent matter.

The General Assembly has since 2014 adopted the resolutions reiterating its support to Ukraine's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders.

The imperative to respect and uphold the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence of all states no matter their size, population, wealth or military might is what stands between a peaceful global order and escalating, widening crises.

As such, Kenya registers its strong concern and opposition to the recognition, by the Russian Federation, of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states.

We call on de-escalation to ensure that there are no military confrontations, and for a return to diplomatic negotiation whose result respects the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine.

We further strongly condemn the trend — in the last few decades — of powerful states breaching International Law with no regard.

Any hopes of realising our Common Agenda, and the other ambitious goals we have set to raise the hopes of our citizens, depend on multilateralism. Today, we are discussing the latest in a string of unilateral actions by states that sit in the Security Council with unique responsibilities under the UN Charter.

We call on all member states to stand behind the Secretary-General in urging him to rally us to a standard that defends multilateralism. There are existing initiatives that we must energise with our common conviction that our United Nations is off track and needs our collective determination to rescue it.

I thank you.