We are heading gradually and painfully to 365 days — one year — of brutal Russian war in Ukraine.

Almost one year ago, Ukraine became the country that was and has been determining the future of our world, its order and rules. For almost one year, the world has been watching the fight between good and evil.

We did witness countries that decided to stand firm for democracy and rule of law; on the other hand, we saw the silence, blindness and indifference of some other countries. I am glad to see that more and more partners are realising that further support and assistance for Ukraine is vital not only for the survival of my nation, but for the future of the democratic and civilized world.

The past nine years have been very hard for my country. Let me remind you — the Russian war on Ukraine did not start on 24 February 2022. It began in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea. In these nine years, Russia undertook all the steps to transform into a real terrorist organisation. As I am writing these words, about 326,000 Russian invaders are fighting on my land, the biggest country in Europe. An active front line with the Russian aggressor stretches for 1,500km, while the overall front line for Ukrainian defenders (Russia and Belarus) is 3,786km long.

Despite several devastating defeats and growing losses (estimated at 128,420 people as of 1 February), Russia continues denying our legitimacy as a sovereign state and retains its maximalist goals to destroy Ukrainian statehood, including by attacking civilians and critical infrastructure.

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Ukrainian law enforcement agencies registered damage or destruction of 77,463 civilian infrastructure facilities, including 58,943 residential buildings and houses, 2,276 educational and 436 medical institutions, 320 cultural and 89 religious buildings, and 3,918 water and electricity networks. Take note — these numbers do not include the temporarily occupied areas, in which the real level of destruction is much higher.

Russian occupiers have damaged 1,189 cultural heritage and cultural infrastructure sites in Ukraine; 446 of them were completely destroyed. Ukrainian law enforcement agencies have launched investigations into 67,297 war crimes and crimes of aggression committed since 24 February 2022. They include the killing of 9,743 people (including 459 children) and the wounding of 12,516 civilians (including 918 children). These figures, growing daily, do not take into account the occupied territories, to which law enforcement officers do not have access.

Remember, Ukraine wants peace, wants peace more than anyone else. Now as I type this, I am sitting in my car and waiting for my son who is singing in the choir for the anniversary of his school in Pretoria. Meantime, my phone goes crazy as the app installed recently signals about missile alarms back home; today, already the second time for Kyiv. They will be hitting our critical energy infrastructure, our civilians and cultural objects again and again. I am sure you will all agree that when a country wants peace, it does not attack another country with hundreds of missiles and try to black out the entire sovereign state, in winter, when it’s -8 degrees outside.

After all, you are asking me — when will the war be over? Why are you not negotiating for peace? What is Ukraine’s plan?

First and foremost, Ukraine didn’t invade Russia and did not provoke or initiate this war. It is Russia’s war of choice. If Russia stops its offensive, the war will be over, but if Ukraine stops fighting back today, it will cease to exist. So Russia has to change its approach, it has to choose the path of peace for others to be able to negotiate with it.

Now, this does not seem to be the case.

That’s why we had to initiate such a setup, so that we could find a platform for global engagement of countries willing to bring peace back to Ukraine.

President Zelensky, speaking at the G20 Summit in Bali, announced a peace formula that consists of 10 clear steps to create a new, globally important security architecture. You can watch this short video for an understanding of the concept. 

Ten very simple steps which countries can work on to put an end to this war are:

• Radiation and nuclear safety;
• Food security;
• Energy security;
• Release of all prisoners and deported persons;
• Implementation of the UN Charter; restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, and the world order;
• Withdrawal of Russian troops and cessation of hostilities;
• Restoration of justice;
• Countering ecocide; and
• Preventing escalation.

And yes, the last step in this formula is signing the peace accord.

All countries, including South Africa, were invited to take a leading role in one, several, or all points of the peace formula.

Peace, in our understanding, is not equal to a truce. We can reach peace only by putting our hands together to deprive Russia of its tools to commit the crime of aggression against Ukraine and the world. 

Implementation of the 10-point peace formula presented by President Zelensky will bring an end to Russia’s war of aggression. 

I ask the whole of Africa to join our peace formula because it is hard to imagine a more worthy goal than freedom and democracy, a safe home and family for every child.

Don’t get tired; don’t stop supporting Ukraine halfway, because, if the values are real, you have to adhere to them 100%. Because, as my grandmother used to tell me, “one cannot be 50% pregnant”. DM