By KYIV. Dec 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday called on the Parliament and people of New Zealand to take the lead in international support for environmental security and demining in Ukraine.
"Just addressed the Parliament and people of New Zealand. A country that has supported us in principle since the first weeks of a full-scale Russian invasion. He spoke about our formula for peace – about a special summit that we are convening to implement our formula and called on New Zealand to take the lead in support at the international level of one of the points of the peace formula – the one that concerns environmental safety and demining," Zelensky said in a video statement.
He said New Zealand is one of those countries that understands that the destruction of the natural environment is equal to the destruction of life.
According to the president, New Zealand can help in terms of diplomatic mobilization of its region in order to implement the Ukrainian formula for peace.
According to the presidential press service, in his address, Zelensky said that to date, some 174,000 square kilometers have been contaminated with unexploded mines and ammunition. On the Ukrainian territory, in addition, the waters of the Black and Azov Seas have been contaminated with mines, hundreds of coal mines have been flooded, dozens of the most dangerous enterprises, including chemical ones, have been destroyed by Russian strikes.
"All this and other manifestations of the Russian ecocidal policy will have direct negative consequences for millions of people, our region and neighboring regions… And I urge you to start consolidating the world, in particular the UN, and at the bilateral level with other states for the eighth point of the formula in order to counteract ecocide," he said.
As an example, the president cited the successful joint implementation with the UN and Turkey of the second point of the Ukrainian peace formula "food security" which implies the export of Ukrainian grain abroad, as well as the related humanitarian initiative "Grain from Ukraine" to overcome the problem of global famine in the world.
Zelensky also noted the readiness of the countries of the world to join other points of the Ukrainian peace formula. In particular, about the readiness of the Netherlands to implement the placement of a tribunal regarding the crime of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
