Statement by Chargé d’Affaires Dmitry Polyanskiy at UNSC Arria meeting “Crimes of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the nationalist battalions”
Opening remarks:
We welcome you at our Arria-formula meeting dedicated to the crimes of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and nationalist battalions. It is a follow-up on the discussion on the same topic that we had two years ago in May 2022. You can find the video record of that meeting via QR-code that you have in front of you on your tables and that you see now on your screens. The latest Kiev regime’s incursion into the Russian territory, which left dozens of innocent unarmed civilians killed or injured, adds additional angle to our today’s gathering.
As we have already repeatedly indicated, the unconstitutional coup-d’état in Ukraine of 2014 resulted in an upsurge in nationalist organizations. The new authorities openly associated themselves with Ukrainian nationalist organizations, which collaborated with German fascists during their invasion of the USSR in 1941 and are responsible for the mass murders and atrocities against Jews, Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, Gypsies and the others. Their new “incarnation” adopted the same methods and hatred towards everything non-Ukrainian. Hence, such an attitude towards their fellow Russian-speaking neighbors who lived on this land for many centuries.
In the 8 years that followed, nationalist extremism turned from a marginal phenomenon into a political mainstream with a distinct anti-Russian core. Residents of Donbass, who did not accept this illegitimate nationalist government, became “second-class” people to new authorities. They were labeled “separatists” and “terrorists”. The so-called anti-terrorist operation was launched against them by Ukraine. Recently the ICJ refused to satisfy Kiev’s claim to recognize Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics as “terrorist organizations”. Thus, the whole “anti-terrorist operation” or “ATO” unleashed by those who usurped power in Ukraine was a lie designed to camouflage a mere military campaign against its own citizens. The Russian-speaking southeastern part of Ukraine was shelled with heavy weaponry on a daily basis, and combat aviation was routinely used against peaceful cities. Our briefers today will provide you with first-hand accounts of what happened then.
During that time, the Kiev regime has committed an untold number of crimes. Intentional targeting of residential areas, destruction of civilian objects, murder of civilians, persecution of alleged “collaborators” were all established practices of Ukrainian soldiers and became true colors of the new authorities which they did not even bother to conceal.
To save time I will not refer now to what happened between the start of Kiev regime’s war against Donbass and the beginning of our special military operation in 2022, which was aimed at ending this war after the sabotage of Kiev and its Western sponsors of the Minsk agreements.
I will refer to only one case because it is exactly 10 years ago that the military forces of Ukraine shelled with cluster munition the riverbank beach near Donetsk by the name Zugres. This became one of the benchmarks of Kiev’s aggression against its own people. 13 people were killed at the moment, 3 of them were children, 30 civilians were wounded. There now memorial services going on in the Donetsk region in memory of those who perished in that ruthless attack.
So turning the situation into NATO’s proxy war against Russia, the West started to pump Ukraine with its weapons, and the number of attacks of the Kiev regime against civilians has multiplied. Systematic atrocities became integral part of Kiev’s military strategy. The Ukrainian Armed Forces regularly launch artillery and ballistic missiles on densely populated areas, deliberately attack civilians. In clear violation of International Humanitarian Law Kiev’s military regularly deployed and used heavy weapons, including artillery and air defense systems, from residential areas using local civilians as “human shields”. They have also become notorious for using apartments, schools and kindergartens as firing positions.
There are many egregious examples. We will now show you a video of two local residents of Dzerzhinsk city describing atrocities of Ukrainian army.
[Video 1 – Crimes against civilians in Dzerzhinsk]
I don’t think that there is a need to comment what these people are saying. Against the backdrop of multiplying setbacks on the battlefield, the Kiev regime after obtaining Western long-range artillery systems regularly resorts to deliberately attacking non-combatants not only in the Donbass region but also in neighboring Russian cities. The Ukrainian army often shells civilian areas close to its border. You all recall multiple shellings of Belgorod, including the one on the New Year eve, when 29 civilians were killed. They also unscrupulously employ most inhumane, abhorrent tactics – such as using UAVs to hunt down local residents and their cars and deliberately kill them. This was the case just last week when Ukrainian neo-Nazis directed a drone into an open window of a five-storey residential building in Shebekino near Belgorod, murdering an elderly woman. You will see a footage of this right now.
[Video 2 - Drone flying into the apartment]
You see on this video footage that the drone operator intentionally directed the vehicle towards a room with an open window of a peaceful residential building, fully aware that there could only be civilians, who were targeted.
Again, no need to comment.
Colleagues,
We had to modify our initial plans and to include in our narrative today an account of what happened at the border between Ukraine and Russia exactly a week ago, on August 6.
In a clear attempt to achieve some kind of a PR-victory for Ukraine whose army is constantly retreating from its fortified positions in the East set up in 2014 and maintained since then, the Zelensky regime launched on that day an adventurous attack on the bordering Russian regions. This is by the way the best rebuffal to all of our international partners who were claiming that the Kiev regime inclines towards peaceful solutions of the Ukrainian crisis – the response has been given and it’s a clear choice for escalation and military action. Don’t tell us afterwards that we didn't warn you about it! The Zelensky junta also tried to provoke and attack Belarus – I believe that my Belorussian colleague will tell us the details later.
As for the Ukrainian incursion into the bordering Russian region of Kursk, I will not touch upon here the insane rationale of the agonizing Ukrainian dictator who lost the remnants of his legitimacy back in May. Undoubtedly, this is a move that Ukraine will bitterly regret as it has trained military reserves being eliminated there as we speak. I will only draw your attention to the methods that Ukrainian nationalists are using on Russian soil, which are similar to the ones they used in Donbass. Let’s watch some videos from the scene.
On this video made by local residents you can see the devastation caused by the drone attack. The asphalt pavement is damaged by shell craters of various sizes and covered with debris. Many buildings, including residential ones, have been significantly damaged. A local says there is neither gas nor electricity in the town. An ongoing attack on a residential building was caught on camera. Photos show damage to the church buildings as a result of the recent attack. These are just a small fraction of videos providing information about war crimes of Ukraine. There are many more examples on the Internet.
You can see the church complex targeted here.
Dozens of residents of Sudzha and neighboring towns were killed and wounded as a result of last week’s attack. The whole of Russia was shocked when a 24-year-old pregnant woman was shot at close range and killed by Ukrainian militants while attempting to flee the area with her husband and 18-month-old baby. In another episode the Ukrainian drone attack on the ambulance resulted in the deaths of both the paramedic and the driver, the latter left behind a wife and a daughter. They were responding to an emergency call in the Sudzhansky district, amidst shelling and Ukrainian drones flying overhead. Operator of one of the drones deliberately and knowingly struck the ambulance in a double-tap attack.
We haven’t heard a word of condemnation of these actions from Western sponsors of the Kiev regime who continue to cover up the abhorrent crimes of their puppet in the same manner as they ignored its atrocities in Donbass for more than 8 years. They go on repeating that “Ukraine has the legal right to defend itself” while referencing the attacks on civilians in the Kursk region.
Maybe the delegations present today will be able to explain how deliberately killing an expectant mother or a 75-year-old woman in Russia correspond with the right to self-defense.
We have a lot of video footage from dash cams depicting the exact moments when Ukrainian military shell cars and innocent people in them. Let’s watch some of it as well as evidence of small arms fire on two different civilian vehicles.
[Video 4 – Shelling of civilian vehicles]
On this video you can see civilians attempting to leave by a private vehicle the territory temporarily controlled by the armed forces of Ukraine. Although it is clear that the vehicle is not a military one, these residents were faced with fire from the militants. These civilians were deliberately targeted rather than caught in the crossfire of the fighting. This constitutes a gross violation of international humanitarian law, which prescribes to ensure the safety of civilians under any circumstances. There are many accounts and footages like this on the Internet.
If you listened to the sound, which we switched off for the meeting, you would hear gunshots, and now you can see the consequences for civilian vehicles.
Despite all this evidence, we heard only statements of support to the Zelensky regime from the United States and its allies, claiming that this military adventure fits into the Ukrainian efforts to disrupt attacks into its sovereign territory. I would be grateful for the explanation how intentionally targeting civilians serves the goal of disrupting attacks on Ukrainian territory, given the fact that there were no military objects or infrastructure in the area.
To protect our population Russia had to proceed with evacuation of civilians from the border zone of the Kursk region. Sometimes it was done under the supervision of local authorities. Sometimes people were able to do it on their own. On the following video, eyewitnesses, both local residents, describe the horrors they experienced when the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ shelling began, and later when they tried to evacuate as drone operators dropped ammunition on their heads.
[Video 5 - Firsthand account of evacuation]
I would like to turn the spotlight on yet another issue. In violation of international humanitarian law, Zelensky’s clique unabashedly resorts to a great variety of lethal means to hunt down the representatives of the Russian press. Because it is not interesting for the world to learn the truth about what it has been doing. Killings and persecution of journalists and war correspondents have become common practice for Ukraine’s junta with tacit support from its Western sponsors. We have already brought to the attention of the members of the Council terrorist attacks against such renowned journalists as Daria Dugina (Platonova), Oleg Klokov, Rostislav Zhuravlev, Boris Maksudov, Semyon Yeremin, Sergei Postnov, Valery Kozhin and Nikita Tsitsagi – all of whom were cold-bloodedly killed in the course of the last two years. In the context of the Kursk incursion, we saw another clear confirmation that targeting and killing journalists is a deliberate and conscious strategy of Zelensky’s army.
Last week a famous Russian war correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny was targeted and badly wounded by a Ukrainian drone in the Kursk region, where Yevgeny was performing his professional duties. The day of his attempted assassination Poddubny posted a video on his Telegram channel showing a Ukrainian armored vehicle shelling a car with civilians in the border village of the Kursk region.
To finish my reference to the ongoing Ukrainian aggression in Kursk I need to point out that those who counted that this barbaric attack will sow discord among Russians and scare them have made a fatal mistake. This criminal act has only consolidated our society and showed the true colors of our enemy who deserves nothing but a complete defeat and unconditional capitulation.
There are many more first-hand accounts, and our briefers will delve into details. I will just say that since 2014 these atrocities have resulted in the deaths of thousands of people, including children, as well as deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure, schools and hospitals. No cause and no ideology can justify this, and all who committed these crimes will not be able to avoid justice and accountability. Let me assure you that in Russia, all Ukrainian crimes against the civilian population since 2014 are thoroughly documented and investigated by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. We will hear about this from one of our briefers today.
Concluding remarks:
Colleagues,
As the saying goes – “We can bring the horse to the water, but we can’t make it drink”. You all have ears and eyes, and it is your choice whether to use them and how to use them or not to use them at all. It is a matter of your conscience and personal choice. I thank those of you who finds courage to “call a spade a spade”. I also thank those who continue to spread lies and fake claims about Russia, as all your words are now registered and will be part of future trials and processes.
We understand that our Western colleagues for political reasons are still in the phase of denial of any uncomfortable truth about true colors of the Kiev regime. In your perverted “black and white” picture of the world Ukraine is good and Russia is bad. No matter what real truth is. The fact that we came to Ukraine to stop the war that it launched ten years ago, to save residents of eastern Ukraine from extermination, is something that you want to vehemently deny.
I will refer to the words of our American colleague who spoke about collective responsibility. I totally concur – it will come to this. And you are absolutely right – the world is watching, and all who committed crimes will be held accountable, no matter whether they are in Kiev, Washington, London or Brussels. And today, you have the opportunity to see that these processes are gaining momentum in Russia. Rest assured that we will not stop there.
For those of you today who were calling for peace and diplomacy I would like to reiterate the bitter reality once again. In June, my country made a very generous negotiation proposal to Ukraine, given its desperate situation on the frontline. We learned the answer a week ago – the Zelensky regime chose escalation and war through incursion into a peaceful Russian region. This is a fatal mistake that will be desperately regretted by Ukraine later. But the choice has been made.
What is still to be known is whether it was made with full knowledge of its Western backers or whether it was a personal act of madness. The last time we saw German tanks on our territory was exactly 80 years ago. Now they are being driven by Ukrainians. You all remember how it ended for Germany back then. The end will be no less inglorious for Ukrainian Nazis today. And it is up to you whether you will continue to side with them and get drowned together in this disdain and disgrace or to finally choose the right side of history. The choice is yours, ladies and gentlemen, and don’t tell us that we didn’t warn you.
Thank you for your attention.
