STATEMENT

by H.E. Mr. Dr. Andrii Melnyk, LL.M.,

 Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Ukraine

to the United Nations at the Security Council meeting on

“Threats to international peace and security”

(1 June 2026)

Madam President,

Distinguished members of the Security Council,

I thank the presidency of Colombia for convening this emergency meeting upon the request of Romania. I wish you success in this important mission.

Dear Foreign Minister Oana Țoiu,

Ukraine expresses its unwavering support with Romania and your people following this deeply alarming incident on May 29, when the Russian combat drone carrying explosives violated Romania’s sovereign airspace and struck a residential area in the city of Galați, injuring civilians and causing significant destruction.

Please convey, dear Minister Țoiu, Ukraine’s most sincere wishes for a swift and full recovery to the family who has been injured because of this vicious Russian strike.

Madam President,

Today, once again, we heard nothing new from the Russian representative.

Unfortunately, he continues to sing the same old song, repeating the familiar narrative that it was not Russia, not a Russian drone, and relying on the well-worn patterns of denial and distortion.

I believe there is no one in this Chamber who would retain a single shred of trust in the words of Mr. Nebenzia.

Ukraine has full confidence in the credible conclusions of the Romanian authorities that this was indeed a Russian drone and nothing else.

Russia can throw all these conspiracy theories that we just heard into a wastebasket.

Madam President,

What happened in Romania was not a single instance and must be taken seriously.

Beyond the official rhetoric of Russia, a pattern of alarming systemic threats has become unmistakable.

Leading Kremlin propagandists such as Vladimir Solovyov, Olga Skabeyeva, and Margarita Simonyan have repeatedly used prime-time broadcasts to openly discuss and call for strikes against major European capitals like London, Paris, or Berlin, normalizing in public discourse the very idea of war extending far beyond Ukraine.

In one particularly chilling example, Ms. Skabeyeva’s program even displayed countdown-style calculations claiming that the Russian ballistic missile “Sarmat” could reach Berlin in 106 seconds, Paris in 200 seconds, and London in 202 seconds, turning the potential destruction of European capitals into a matter of a TV show.

And even more strikingly, these narratives are echoed at the highest political level.

Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian President and now the Deputy Secretary of the Security Council, has used, on multiple occasions, similar explicit threats, suggesting potential attacks on European cities.

Taken together, all these statements are not isolated provocations, but part of a broader campaign in which the language of intimidation and the targeting of European capitals has been steadily mainstreamed into Russia’s state-aligned messaging.

In Galați, in Romania, we have witnessed that all this rhetoric is not just threats.

Madam President,

The recent attack against Romania was a cynical double-strike, which carried at least two messages.

The first was directed at Romania and all NATO Member States.

It was yet another attempt to test the resolve of our neighbors, to probe reactions, and to see how far Russia can go in bringing its war of aggression ever closer to the territory of allied nations.

But there was another, second message.

The Romanian city of Galați plays a special role in Ukrainian history as well, as the place where one of the most important rulers, Hetman Ivan Mazepa, found his final resting place over 300 years ago.

Hetman Mazepa has remained a source of particular hatred and resentment for Moscow because he dared to challenge imperial rule and defend Ukraine’s right to determine its own future three centuries ago.

That is why many Ukrainians cannot overlook this bitter symbolism of a Russian drone striking a beautiful city of Galați in Romania, but so closely associated with Hetman Mazepa’s sacred memory.

It is another reminder that Russia’s war is directed not only against Ukrainian statehood or territory, but also against our history and national identity.

Madam President,

To conclude, there are essentially two ways to respond to Russia’s brazen, intentional drone strike on Galați.

The first is the familiar one.

We can express our outrage, condemn this violation, call upon Russia to refrain from such illegal actions in the future, and hope that all these appeals, including all those that were made this afternoon in the Chamber, will somehow persuade Mr. Putin to stop sending his deadly drones toward Romania or Poland or any other neighboring country of Ukraine.

We have followed this path many times before. The results — or, better to say, their evident lack — speak for themselves.

What we see now — we see no reaction. Before, there was a similar incident in Poland, you would remember, on the September 12. 2025, we had a Council’s meeting. But all those signals were not really persuasive for Russia.

This new strategy now in Romania is just another logical consequence of failure to put Russia in its place.

This should be another lesson for all of us.

But there is, however, a second approach how to address this intentional — I repeat, intentional — drone strike against the peaceful city of Galați.

We have to recognize that the most effective way to deal with these Russian attacks on Romanian citizens, and indeed on all European citizens, is to prevent those drones from entering Ukraine’s airspace in the first place.

In practical terms, this means helping Ukraine protect our skies and establish a powerful and fully integrated air defense shield with all the combined capabilities of our European partners.

We urgently call upon our allies - also sitting at this table - not just to completely rethink and change the current approach and initiate a decisive shift in scale in the provision of air defense systems.

We need at least a tenfold, but actually twentyfold increase.

But what Ukraine needs most is the commitment of our European - and our American - partners to actively intercept and destroy Russian missiles and Russian drones over Ukraine’s territory.

The strikes on Galați should therefore become a turning point.

The most effective response to Russia expanding its war across Europe is not another expression of concern, but a bold collective action that would deprive Russia of the ability to terrorize both Ukraine and all its neighbors.

The safest Romanian sky begins with a much better protected sky over Ukraine.

Madam President,

Before I wrap up, I would like to react to Mr. Nebenzia’s baseless accusations regarding an alleged drone strike on Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant that we just heard.

We strongly reject this shameless allegation that is merely a figment of Russia’s vivid imagination.

As in the case of Starobilsk, there is no independent verification of this unfounded claim.

Instead of staging this theatrical performance once again, Russia must immediately liberate Zaporizhzhia, the biggest NPP on European soil, stop playing with nuclear fire, and get out of Ukraine.

And with regard to Mr. Nebenzia’s repeated reference to the Starobilsk fake story, the continuous manipulation of facts reminds us of a famous Soviet movie.

Let me quote it, traditionally in Russian:

«Три магнитофона, три кинокамеры заграничные, три портсигара отечественных, куртка замшевая — три».

In other words, just stop lying in the Chamber.

I thank you.