In the red corner
The harrowing images and accounts of unimaginable suffering coming out of Ukraine underlines the consequences of Russia’s unjustified, unproved aggression.
New Zealand has been strong in our condemnation of this invasion and has joined the international community in calling on Russia to immediately cease military operations in Ukraine to avoid a catastrophic and pointless loss of innocent life.
From the outset it was clear that Russia’s invasion posed a significant threat to peace and security in the region and would trigger a humanitarian crisis, with large numbers of people across Ukraine immediately fleeing towards to border countries.
New Zealand was one of the first to provide humanitarian aid for Ukraine, with a focus on supporting health facilities and meeting basic needs such as provision of food and hygiene items.
We also moved to fast-track support for Ukrainians to remain or return to New Zealand immediately. And, with the recently increased refugee programme, the
Government is working closely with international partners and stands ready to assist as required.
The Government will continue to monitor events closely as the scale of the conflict, and the resulting humanitarian crisis, becomes clearer. We know the consequences of Russia’s actions will be significant, and tragically many of these will fall on innocent people.
In terms of military aid, it is often nations with large military operations that are able to deploy equipment, and potentially personnel. New Zealand is in a different category in that regard. But the Government will continue to work through options consistent with New Zealand’s unequivocal opposition to Russia’s actions.
Russia has demonstrated a disregard for diplomacy and efforts to avoid conflict. And, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, they have also displayed a blatant disregard for international law and abdicated their responsibility to uphold global peace and security.
Russia must face the consequences of those decisions. That is why, in addition to implementing an initial suite of sanctions, we have taken the significant step of passing a specific Russia Sanctions Billa.
This is the first time a law of this nature has been brought before our Parliament, but with Russia vetoing United Nations sanctions we had no choice but to take this step.
My thoughts continue to be with the people of Ukraine.