Kremlin Exploiting Partners' Fears To Undermine Support For Ukraine Betsa

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa said this in an interview with an Ukrinform correspondent in New York, commenting on the UN General Assembly debate on the situation in Ukraine's temporarily occupied territories (TOT).

“Russia's strategy remains the same, but its tactics have changed. Russia is resorting to daily terror using drones and ballistic missiles – 15 to 20 air raid alerts a day,” Betsa said.

Ukraine needs to strengthen its anti-ballistic capabilities and is calling on its partners to provide assistance to bolster air defense. Russia is exploiting Ukraine's vulnerability caused by an insufficient number of interceptors and is intensifying its attacks ahead of the autumn-winter period.

“We have appealed to all our partners to provide every possible assistance in strengthening our air defense and supplying interceptor missiles. This is priority number one,” the Deputy Foreign Minister said.

She stressed the importance of the General Assembly's debate on the TOT in keeping the issues of Crimea and other occupied territories at the center of international attention.

Another important issue Betsa raised at the UN was documenting Russia's crimes.“Of course, it is difficult to document them because there are no monitoring missions on the ground, as Russia does not allow them in. But monitoring is being conducted remotely,” she said.

The official pointed to the critical human rights situation in the TOT, particularly concerning children who have been abducted and transferred.

She also drew attention to the plight of Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians illegally held by Russia, noting that the International Committee of the Red Cross still has no access to Ukrainian citizens.

According to Betsa, she also spoke about the difficult situation at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.“We need maximum international monitoring and access to all facilities in order to prevent nuclear escalation and a possible nuclear disaster,” she said.

In addition, Ukraine called on its international partners not to recognize Russia's State Duma elections, which Moscow intends to hold in Ukraine's temporarily occupied territories as well.

“These are, without a doubt, a farce – illegal and illegitimate elections. Therefore, from the UN podium, we called on our international partners neither to participate in observing the so-called elections nor to recognize their results, which are null and void,” the Deputy Minister said.

It is also important to draw international attention to the situation involving Ukrainian shipping and global food security.

According to Betsa, Ukraine has appealed to the UN Secretary-General to use the powers available under his mandate to help restore safe navigation in the Black Sea, as this issue affects countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and other nations of the Global South.

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At the same time, she urged international partners not to fear Russia and to step up their support for Ukraine.

“My appeal to our partners was also that there is no need to be afraid of Russia,” the official said, emphasizing that Moscow“knows what our partners are afraid of, knows their fears” and“manipulates those fears.”

She stressed the need for unity between Ukraine and its partners, stronger anti-ballistic defenses and increased sanctions pressure on Russia.

“It is very important to be prepared for any scenario, but the recipe is very simple: our partners and Ukraine need to be as united as possible,” Betsa concluded.

As reported by Ukrinform, Mariana Betsa took part in a debate on the situation in Ukraine's TOTs which the UN General Assembly held on Tuesday.

Photo provided by Mariana Betsa

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