Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at UNSC briefing on Ukraine
Mr.President,
Let me begin by saying again that we are puzzled at the inclusion onto the speakers’ list of representatives of the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland, and Latvia – in addition to the EU delegation. What added value are we going to receive upon hearing their statements that replicate one another? We repeatedly said that. I wonder if many EU states will inscribe on the list of speakers of the briefing on arms deliveries to Ukraine – the topic that they actually have to do with – on 13 October.
Mr.President,
A month ago, on 8 September, the previous anti-Russian show was set up in this very room following a strike against a market place in the town of Konstantinovka, allegedly launched by the Russian troops. Back then, our Western colleagues went at lengths in eloquence and phillipics, depicting the incident as best they could. For example, the British Ambassador started off with the following allegation: “Let me first condemn another appalling Russian missile attack earlier this week on a market in Kostyantynivka, in eastern Ukraine”. The Permanent Representative of France did not fall far off claiming that “Russia continues to disregard international law and relentlessly and intentionally bomb cities and civilian infrastructure, which constitute war crimes. The recent attack on the Kostyantynivka market … further attests to that”. To not even mention Estonians, Polish, and the likes, who had never needed a particular reason to practice some Russophobia. All those allegations against us were taken down in the official record of the meeting.
Today we know perfectly well that the massacre in Konstantinovka was the doing of Ukraine who either misdelivered an air-defense missile or deliberately fired at a civil facility. This is worth finding out, but of course, the Kiev regime is not up to any investigations. This follows directly from the words of M.Podolyak, Adviser to the Head of the Office of Ukrainian President. “To us this is obvious. It was a Russian missile. Shall we check out every piece of debris whenever anyone steps forth and says that Ukraine attack itself?” Let me ask this to our Western colleagues. Don’t you see that the Kiev junta is making use of you to mainstream fakes that get debunked with all credibility later on? Or still worse, are you doing this consciously? Do you willingly become part of this unprecedented and unscrupulous anti-Russian propaganda campaign? Regrettably, the UN Secretariat occasionally would play along, whose representative also blamed Russia for the Konstantinovka strike at the meeting on 8 September. We all know who “feeds these rounds” to the Secretariat and based on whose data the Secretariat draws its conclusions.
In this meeting, we already heard appalling insinuations about a missile strike against a railway terminal in Kramatorsk in April 2022, which everyone knows today (and it has been proven by evidence) was launched by the UAF, about the devastation of the Transfiguration Cathedral in Odessa by a Ukrainian air defense missile, about the blast at the Drama Theatre in Mariupol, which was organized by Azov fighters, and about a maternity hospital in the same city which Ukrainian nationalists had turned into a fire nest. The count of Ukrainian air defense missiles hitting civil facilities goes on dozens if not hundreds. Ukrainians themselves put such cases on record and publicize them on social media, so Zelensky and his clique do not really run any chances to deceive the public.
The despicable provocation in Bucha fits in this row nicely. No investigation has ever been conducted, and Secretary-General never provided the names of people, whose bodies Ukrainian fighters placed neatly in the streets of Bucha following withdrawal of Russian troops, which was a good will gesture against the backdrop of successful peace talks underway in Istanbul. By the way, the Kiev regime quitted the talks on the pretext of this self-authored provocation.
It is worth recalling how the Kiev regime tried to “propel” for its purposes the story with a missile falling on a Polish village Przewodów in November 2022 killing two people. They called it an assault against a NATO member state and tried to provoke reciprocal steps by the Alliance, up to invoking Article 5. At the end of August, Poland’s Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobr drew a line under this story admitting the obvious: it had been a Ukrainian missile that hit the Polish village.
We could cite dozens such episodes, in every single on of which Ukrainian authorities tried to put the blame for striking civil facilities on Russia, which was then exposed as a lie.
The is one more circumstance to unite most of such episodes, first of all the high-profile ones. By a magic coincidence, they took place exactly when Western politicians visited Ukraine or when Zelensky tripped abroad to beg for more money and weapons.
This was the case with the market in Konstantinovka, which happened on the eve of Zelensky’s meeting with Secretary of State Blinken on 6 September. The strike against Kramatorsk which was as appalling was launched on the day of the visit of an EU delegation headed by J.Borrell and U.von der Leyen on 8 April 2022.
The tragedy in Groza, which is why we are gathered here today, happened exactly when Zelensky was pursuading the European Union at a summit in Spain of the need to continue supporting the Kiev regime. Ukrainians themselves are already voicing concerns that they should beware not only of Ukrainian air defense missiles, but also of their president’s foreign guests and visits.
Right after such incidents, the delegation of Ukraine begins to demand a Security Council meeting and Western states push the Council to convene immediately.
Getting back to what happened in Groza, there are some aspects that catch one’s eye from the very start. As we know, when the strike hit, there was a funeral of a high-ranking Ukrainian nationalist. Of course, plenty of his neo-Nazi accomplices were taking part. It is no coincidence that in pictures that were posted on social media after the strike, almost all dead bodies are men of conscription age.
We have seen such situations more than once. The Kiev regime “wrung hands” over the casualties that occurred after strikes against hotels, dorms, cafes, stores, etc. And afterwards, numerous death notices of military and foreign mercenaries arrived. A “coincidence” as it is. We cannot rule out that this may be the case with Groza as well.
I underscore that wherever Kiev concentrates a lot of military, this spot becomes a legitimate target, including in terms of international humanitarian law. Whereas positioning of heavy weapons and air defense systems in residential quarters constitutes a gross violation of IHL and leads to tragedies that we already mentioned. We stress again that Russia does not hit civil facilities, nor do we target civilians. Our high-precision weapons only aim at eradicating the combat potential of Zelensky’s regime and its objects. If Ukraine opts for granaries and porting infrastructure to be used as ammo depots, then they will be eradicated too.
I cannot fail to note that when our cynical Western colleagues put emphasis on the victims in Groza and call to condemn the strike, they remain ignorant of what happens in other parts of the globe. Last Friday they blocked a Russia-proposed draft press statement of UNSC regarding a terrorist attack at the graduation ceremony at a military college in Homs, Syria, which killed more than 100 people. By the way, the attack was carried out by French-made drones. By the same token, Western pseudo-advocates of human rights turn a blind eye to regular strikes by UAF against peaceful quarters of the cities of Donbas, Kherson, and Zaporozhye regions, where no military facilities are located. By the way, those strikes are launched from Western weapons, for UAF has no more weapons of its own. Somehow, I cannot recall a single UNSC meeting called by Western members on this matter. They simply do not notice that.
Our US colleague has recalled a funeral in Groza. Isn’t he willing to recall a wedding party in Iraq shot dead by brave American servicemen? Or other numerous crimes by US military against civilians in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia? Apparently, the main phobia of our American colleagues today is that Russia may be elected to the Human Rights Council. It is not for nothing that it is the Americans who are campaigning for our competitor, Albania. They have finally thrown off all masks and discarded elementary norms of decency, not hesitating to use the UNSC platform to campaign against Russia.
Colleagues,
It is the goal of our Western colleagues to cover up for the Kiev regime as best they can. They gave Kiev a carte blanche to commit whatever crimes or human rights violations as early as in 2014. Today, they are supplying weapons, ammo, and recon data (we will talk about it more specifically at a meeting that we have requested for 13 October) in a futile attempt to postpone the ignominious demise of the regime, whose deadly war on the peaceful people of Donbas was to be stopped by our special military operation. The goals of our SMO will be attained militarily unless Kiev and its Western sponsors agree to resolve by peaceful methods.
Thank you.
