Irish CND statement on Russian invasion of Ukraine

Many people across not just Europe but the entire world will have reacted with shock, fear, horror and even despair at the news that Russian armed forces have launched a multi-pronged attack on Ukraine. A major act of military aggression by a nuclear-armed power raises the prospect of huge civilian casualties and a humanitarian disaster for the population of Ukraine, even without the use of nuclear weapons. The real possibility that nuclear weapons could be engaged in any ongoing conflict risks damage to human life and the environment on an unprecedented, terrifying and utterly catastrophic level.  

War represents not just an immediate failure of diplomacy, but a long-term failure of decency, imagination, maturity and civilisation on the part of the aggressors, and on the part of those who have stoked fear, suspicion, hostility and confrontation on all fronts. Violence is not an acceptable last resort in any circumstance; it is an expression of basic, de-humanised depravity that devalues and destroys human life, human rights and the fragile balance that sustains our wider environment.  

The immediate outfall of war in death and injury to both soldiers and civilians in the Ukraine is already apparent. Further impacts, as refugees flee from conflict, and infrastructure, including food supplies and health services, is destroyed, inevitably follow rapidly. The medical and humanitarian consequences of a prolonged conflict can only grow larger and more frightening by the day and by the hour.  

News of fighting in the area around the crippled and still-dangerous Chernobyl nuclear power plant is chilling. Today, Ukraine has four nuclear power plants with 15 reactors, which together generate up to 50% of the country's electricity supply. An accidental or deliberate strike on any of these facilities could release radioactive materials on a scale far larger than that of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Damage to the electricity grid itself, or failure of back-up systems, could likewise result in a devastating nuclear meltdown at any of these locations. Any such nuclear catastrophe, whether accidental or through deliberate weaponisation of nuclear infrastructure, would have far-reaching effects well beyond the borders of Ukraine or Russia.  

Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated in recent days, "No matter who tries to stand in our way… Russia will respond immediately, and the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history." While his statement does not directly reference nuclear weapons, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that this is an implicit threat to launch a nuclear attack, either against Ukraine or other countries which he perceives as an obstacle to his ambitions. President Putin was joined by Belarussian President Lukashenko to oversee military exercises involving nuclear missiles in the past week. In the coming days, Belarus, which facilitated the Russian invasion from its territory to the north-west of Ukraine, will hold a referendum which would allow Russian nuclear weapons to be based in the country. Such statements and actions reinforce the sense of foreboding that an impending nuclear escalation of the conflict is all-too-possible. The consequences for all life on earth as we know it would be unthinkable.  

Irish CND joins with our colleagues in the International Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) in condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine and veiled threats to use nuclear weapons: "We urge the international community to strongly pressure Russia to engage in dialogue and diplomacy, to return to compliance with the UN Charter, respect international humanitarian and human rights law and join relevant treaties to reduce nuclear weapons risks, including the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons." 

Irish CND calls on the Irish government to use Ireland's influence as a neutral country and as a member of the United Nations Security Council, to take a courageous, self-determined stance to promote peace through all available and appropriate international fora.  

In June 2021, President Putin and American President Joe Biden issued a joint statement reaffirming that a "nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought." Less than a year later, the world finds itself facing a real and terrifying threat that a nuclear war could indeed be close at hand. We urge nuclear-armed states, whatever their role in the present conflict, to renounce their horrific potential for mass destruction and abolish their nuclear arsenals. We urge European states hosting American nuclear weapons to cease these arrangements immediately. We urge all states, nuclear-armed and non-nuclear-armed, to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force just over a year ago, and provides a clear pathway for a nuclear-weapons-free world.  

Irish CND acknowledges with gratitude the use of briefing materials provided by our colleagues in the International Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and Beyond Nuclear International in the preparation of this statement.