РУССКИЙ
12:20 15.08.2024 •
Dmitry Polyanskiy
Photo: UN
Statement by Chargé d’Affaires Dmitry Polyanskiy at UN Security Council Arria meeting “Crimes of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the nationalist battalions”. Main points:
- 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”. The whole “anti-terrorist operation” or “ATO” unleashed by those who usurped power in Ukraine was, thus, 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.
- 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.
- 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 and 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. And we have a footage of that attack.
[Video - Drone flying into the apartment]
- 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 rebuffle 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.
- 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 its last trained military reserves are 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.
- Dozens of residents of Sudzha and neighboring towns were 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 – Shelling of 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.
- Killings and persecution of journalists and war correspondents have become common practice for Ukraine’s junta with tacit support from its Western sponsors. We already brought to the attention of the members of the Council terrorist attacks against such renowned journalists as Daria Dugina (Platonova), Oleg Klokov, Rostislav Zhuravlevlev, 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.
- 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.
- We understand that our Western colleagues for political reasons are still in the phaze 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, Wahington, 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.
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