20 June 2025
Madam President,
Today, we are once again witnessing a parade of European countries who are seeking to make their “invaluable” contribution to the discussion by repeating identical narratives and parading themselves on TV screens and in the news feeds of their countries. You, EU members (except Norway, of course), have a representative of the European Union who could read out a single agreed statement instead of wasting the Council’s time on endless repetitions of the exact same meaningless things. It is high time to put an end to this practice. Meetings on Ukraine convened by Western countries are not an open debate. And this “choir” of EU members singing in unison is excessive and unnecessary here.
Madam President,
Our world is changing rapidly, but some things remain unchanged. Among them is the obstinacy of our European colleagues, who persistently insist on calling UNSC meetings on Ukraine instead of addressing the situation in Gaza or the looming large-scale regional war and other pressing crises triggered by Israel’s reckless attack on Iran. Their main objective also remains unchanged: by hook or by crook to smear Russia and keep afloat the narrative (no longer convincing) of Ukraine as an innocent victim and Russia as a treacherous aggressor. At the same time, London, Paris, Brussels, and Berlin are not even bothering to look for ways to resolve the Ukrainian crisis; their interest lies solely in prolonging the conflict as long as possible to bleed Russia dry.
In this regard, their views completely concur with the priorities of the expired Ukrainian princeling, who realizes that peace in Ukraine would put paid to his personal power and his ability to rob his country blind. Nor does he want to be held accountable for embezzling billions of dollars of Western aid and stealing budget funds from his fellow citizens. So, once again, in this chamber, we are compelled to listen to “fairy tales about big bad imperialist Russia” and get distracted by disinformation and outright lies.
The formal pretext for all Western meetings on Ukraine is the accusations that Russia is allegedly targeting civilians, even though the evidence proves otherwise. Today, the pretext was a downed missile hitting the entrance of an apartment building in Kiev, which the Zelensky regime is desperately trying to portray as a deliberate Russian strike. However, much to the consternation of the main stage actor of Kiev, this time (just as was the case in numerous similar situations in the past), videos shot by ordinary Ukrainians surfaced online, exposing the false claims of the Ukrainian authorities and their Western backers. People are already openly mocking these new unconvincing attempts by the ringleader of the Kiev junta and wondering why such tragedies occur right before his foreign trips – this time, the Ukrainian air defense malfunctioned in a similar criminal manner on the eve of his trip to the G7 summit.
There are other videos that clearly show that Russian strikes targeted exclusively military facilities or objects directly related to Ukraine’s military capabilities. On that day, in Kiev, Russia hit military industrial facilities, air defense systems, military equipment warehouses, and gathering points for security forces. A similar object was the target for the missile that was shot down by the Ukrainian air defense stationed in residential areas in violation of international humanitarian law.
Those strikes also destroyed ammunition depots, as well as an airport where Western Patriot air defense systems were located, which resulted in powerful explosions, secondary detonation, and a fire – all this is clearly visible in videos posted online by Ukrainian users. The National Aviation Institute in Kiev was also hit. The reason for it is quite obvious: earlier, one of the so-called Ukrainian volunteers had boasted on social media about storing drones for the Ukrainian armed forces in a building located in the heart of a residential area, and he posted relevant photos therewith.
Colleagues,
Using civilians as “human shields” has already become a “trademark” of the Ukrainian armed forces. For example, images from Kupyansk, which came to light online recently, clearly show Ukrainian forces using apartment buildings and private homes to deploy UAV units. And the Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on assembly shops located in residential buildings, where soldiers “convert civilian devices provided by the government or individuals into offensive weapons.”
Madam President,
The falsehood of our Western colleagues’ statements is compounded by their deliberate silence on the crimes committed by the Armed Forces of Ukraine against civilians in Russian regions. Yet, there is much to discuss here. Unlike the Russian Aerospace Forces, which carry out precision strikes on targets having to do with the Ukrainian military potential, the Ukrainian forces have long been known to target residential areas and use people as “human shields.” In the past week alone, from June 9 to 15, there were 104 civilian casualties as a result of shelling by Ukrainian Nazis: 96 people were wounded, including 14 minors, and 8 people were killed, including 1 minor. Over 1,600 munitions were fired at civilian targets in Russia by Ukraine’s armed forces. Moreover, dozens or even hundreds of drones are launched daily at civilian objects in the Russian Federation.
The glaring silence, inaction, and sometimes direct or tacit approval on the part of a number of European states do nothing but effectively encourage the Kiev regime to further escalate the situation. As a result, we see their methods change and increasingly take on the characteristics of organized terror against civilians and civilian objects. These terrorist methods were clearly exemplified by the targeted attacks on passenger trains in the Bryansk, Kursk, and Voronezh regions of the Russian Federation on May 31, June 1, and June 5, which killed seven civilians and injured more than 100.
In connection with this, we proposed a UNSC draft resolution condemning these terrorist attacks. Western countries took a remarkably cynical stance towards it, refusing to condemn these blatant acts of terrorism. As a result, they even blocked the Council’s standard statement expressing sympathy for the victims. Instead of condemning terrorism, they tried to portray a blown-up passenger train as a “legitimate military target,” which is not only inhumane but also contrary to international law. Such a position demonstrates a dangerous politicization, whereby the fight against terrorism becomes a tool to apply double standards rather than a universal principle. In addition, we have once again seen that the West, rabid with Russophobia, sees nothing wrong with killing Russian citizens. If it were about American, British, or French citizens, the reaction would be completely different.
These terrorist attacks committed by the Kiev regime should be viewed in a broader context. There is no doubt that this series of terrorist acts, as well as FPV-drone attacks on strategic airfields in the Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Amur regions on June 1, were intended to disrupt the second round of peace talks on June 2 in Istanbul and provoke the Russian leadership into large-scale retaliatory actions, which could have been used to solicit new handouts from the West. However, Kiev’s plan fell through, and our delegation arrived in Instambul on the scheduled day.
During the direct Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul, we presented our draft memorandum on a peaceful settlement. It consists of two parts and includes the conditions for a comprehensive lasting peace, as well as the conditions for a ceasefire. The memorandum is based on the fundamental principles announced by the President of Russia in June 2024, which we have repeatedly discussed, including in this chamber. This is the best offer Ukraine can get today, and we advise accepting it, as things will only get worse for Kiev from here on out.
In Istanbul, we also managed to agree on a large-scale exchange of prisoners of war, primarily the wounded, the seriously ill, and those under the age of 25. In addition, we handed over to Kiev the bodies of more than 6,000 deceased Ukrainian servicemen. This humanitarian gesture of ours has put the Kiev regime in a bind since such a large number of bodies reveals the true scale of losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the front line, and families of the deceased must be provided with compensation. For this reason, Zelensky and his clique refused to collect the bodies for several days under far-fetched pretenses. However, after we published the corresponding lists, they were left with no choice. As a result, 6,060 bodies of deceased Ukrainian servicemen were handed over to the Ukrainian side. We are ready to hand over another 2,239 bodies. We have received the bodies of 78 deceased Russian servicemen from Ukraine.
Madam President,
During the second round of talks in Istanbul, we also discussed the children issue. Contrary to the bombastic claims about “tens of thousands of abducted children,” which were repeated not only by Western countries but also by reputable international organizations that apparently do not cherish their reputation, the list provided by Kiev contains only 339 names. This clearly shows that this sensitive issue has been drastically exaggerated and simply turned into a propaganda political show. Let us note once again that in reality there are no mass deportations and so-called “child abductions” – what we are talking about is the evacuation of children from the combat zone by authorized Russian bodies, and many children have already been returned to their homes. Of course, all the information provided to us will be thoroughly examined and, if confirmed, the children will be returned to their families.
Madam President,
From the very beginning of the special military operation, Russia has remained open to dialogue and to finding ways to resolve the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis peacefully. We reaffirm this position today. The only thing that can still save Ukraine from complete disaster is to immediately proceed with constructive and realistic negotiations, the next round of which we propose holding in Istanbul after June 22. We are grateful to our American colleagues, who consistently support our direct dialogue with Ukraine. We hope that the European sponsors of the Kiev regime will also give Ukraine a chance, rather than persist in doing their utmost to continue this “war until the last Ukrainian.”
Thank you.