Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at UNSC Briefing on Ukraine
Mr. President,
You do not have to be wise as an owl or a visionary pundit to understand why the Ukrainian regime and its European accomplices requested today’s briefing. Zelensky is literally bamboozled by the shift of focus from Ukraine and his own “heroic figure” to the escalation in the Middle East, which, objectively, requires the close scrutiny of the international community. The Kiev regime is now out of the spotlight and is desperately trying to recapture attention.
Yet, the failed actor from Krivoy Rog could not miss the opportunity to try to profit from the tragic developments in the Middle East. Zelensky sprang into action immediately and hurried to offer his “assistance”, to report on sending Ukrainian military experts and drone calculations to places thousands of kilometers away in order to defend foreign bases and engage in foreign conflicts. Instead of showing concern for his own country and people, he is trying, at all costs, to remind his Western sponsors of how useful he is, otherwise, God forbid, the money that he has regularly put in his own pocket and the pockets of his associates, will flow from Ukraine to the distant Gulf. It is obvious that it is more important for Kiev today to be involved in any war, rather than look for a path to peace at home. That is why he is constantly on a world tour – around Europe and the US, begging for financial and military aid and trying to create an illusion of seeking peace, while putting forward “demands”, or, the way he hallucinates it, “fair” conditions: immediate ceasefire, a return to 1991 borders, the deployment of foreign military contingents in Ukraine and so on.
Mr. President,
The Western members of the Security Council speak of allegedly increasing numbers of strikes launched by the Russian armed forces against Ukrainian territory. Yet, those in European capitals and in Brussels, the seat of the EU, are unanimously turning a blind eye to all the Ukrainian armed forces’ crimes, while continuing to lend a comprehensive support to Kiev.
Mr. President,
Incidentally, I would like to say a few words about European “beacons of democracy”.
European countries are taking desperate steps to silence everyone who is telling the truth about the situation in Ukraine. Using invented pretexts, they now impose restrictions on their own fellow citizens, simply because the views and interpretations of these citizens go against the official line of the European Union or specific Western states. Among them are German bloggers Alina Lipp and Thomas Röper, French national Adrian Boke, Jacques Baud from Switzerland, Graham Phillips from Great Britain. Without due process, they have been accused of disinformation, propaganda and “destabilizing activities”. Some of them are familiar to UNSC members from Arria-Formula meetings. This is nothing but intimidation and terror. The persecution of dissidents has become commonplace in Europe, whereas freedom of speech and the presumption of innocence are now just empty words.
At the same time, terrorist attacks committed by the Kiev regime are showing no signs of abating, on the contrary, they are intensifying. On 10 March, Franco-British Storm Shadow long-range missiles hit Bryansk. A bustling business district in the immediate vicinity of apartment blocks, children's stores, a university and other civilian infrastructure came under the targeted strike. The attack left eight people dead, more than 40 wounded. On that very same day, the Ukrainian armed forces used drones to attack a medical facility in the Donetsk People’s Republic. More than 130 patients and approximately 50 medical personnel were at the site during the strike. The attack killed ten medics, ten more people sustained various injuries. On the whole, in the week between 9-15 March the strikes launched by the Ukrainian Nazis affected 239 civilians: 202 people, including 6 children, were left wounded, and 37 were killed. More than 3.5 thousand rounds of ammunition struck civilian objects. Russian regions, including Moscow and Moscow Oblast, are seeing an unprecedented number of drone attacks.
In total, since February 2022 the Ukrainian armed forces have struck at least 27.5 thousand Russian civilians. In Belgorod Oblast alone, over 520 social facilities, 174 educational facilities, and 74 health facilities were destroyed. In Belgorod Oblast alone, 467 people were killed (of them, 23 were children).
The Ukrainian armed forces are literally hunting down the live targets using drones. The strikes are regularly aimed at civilians – this is a deliberate tactic deployed by the Kiev regime.
Now everyone is concerned with the situation surrounding the Strait of Hormuz and the prospects of disrupted energy supplies from the Persian Gulf. Let us remind you that we have not yet seen the Security Council condemn the terrorist attack against the Nord Stream pipelines, the main artery for transporting natural gas to Europe. Almost four years have passed, but we still have not gotten the results of the investigation.
Attacks on other export infrastructure ensuring the supply of Russian gas via TurkStream and Blue Stream are also ongoing. In the last few days, drone attacks targeted the Russkaya Compressor Station in Krasnodar Region, as well as Kazachya and Beregovaya stations. These irresponsible actions are concurrent with the acutely unstable global energy market. Not to mention the blocking of the Druzhba oil pipeline by Ukrainians, which clearly demonstrates Kiev’s intentions to use infrastructure as a leverage for pressure and political play. Previously, you, Europeans, groundlessly accused Russia of “energy blackmail”. But when Ukraine does it in reality, not amid unfounded allegations, the response is silence. As you say, “that’s different”.
These reckless actions by Kiev are on par with the terrorist attacks on Russian and foreign tankers in the international waters of the Mediterranean and Black Sea, which Kiev sanctioned. Is anyone in the Security Council interested in freedom and security of merchant shipping in this context?
Mr. President,
It is increasingly obvious that neither peace talks, nor basic humanitarian measures that could alleviate people’s sufferings are of interest to the current Ukrainian authorities. And that can be seen not in words, but in concrete actions, or rather inaction.
Here is a simple example: to date, in the city of Sumy seven civilians forcefully taken from Kursk oblast are still detained. They are not military, they are not combatants, they are ordinary civilians, who are being held hostage by lawless Kiev. Yet, when discussing prisoners of war exchanges, Ukraine above all insists on the return of far-right militants belonging to Azov national guard, whereas what comes second is the fate of ordinary men conscripted for military service, who often end up at the front against their will. It speaks volumes about the priorities of the Kiev regime.
It is no longer possible to conceal the way the Ukrainian conscription is taking place – neither loud slogans, nor rhetoric abroad are helpful. The systemic, large-scale and coercive campaign looks less and less like a mobilization in the classical sense of the term, being more and more transformed into chasing and hunting people. Images in the social media speak for themselves: draft office staff are literally kidnapping people in the streets, workplaces or public transport. At the same time, the so-called system of exemptions, which is supposed to protect particular categories of specialists from being conscripted, in practice has become a corruption filter: those who have money or connections are safe, the rest are sent off to the front.
All of the above creates a dangerous split within the society, when some are perceived as a sort of a higher caste, whereas others are considered expendable. And this is not just a moral issue, it is a strategic impasse, because an army built on coercion and fear cannot be combat-ready. Against this backdrop, it is clear why the Kiev establishment is afraid of real negotiations. A serious diplomatic process will inevitably raise the questions: “What purposes do all of these sacrifices serve? Why were the opportunities for a settlement not seized?”
The President of Russia has repeatedly reaffirmed that we are unequivocally committed to a negotiated solution and to achieving the goals of the special military operation by diplomatic means. However, since the Kiev regime is not ready for this and intends to continue fighting at any cost as its European friends are egging it on, Kiev will have to face new conditions for a settlement very soon.
Thank you.
