The Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Minister for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade of Malta Ian Borg and OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid made the following statement on the continuing and intensifying aerial attacks by Russia in its war against Ukraine:

“The new year has depressingly begun in the same way that the last one ended. Death and destruction have stolen the lives of women, men, boys and girls and destroyed essential infrastructure.

Every day, it is civilians who consistently pay the price in this terrible conflict. They should never be the victims of deadly drone and missile attacks.

Together, we deplore in the strongest possible terms these ongoing attacks and urgently call for an immediate end to the unrelenting violence that does nothing but propagate a vicious cycle of misery and suffering. We call for this war to end now”.