Statement

by the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN,

H.E. Ambassador Dr. Andriy Melnyk, LL.M.

at the High-Level Open Debate on 

“Upholding the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter and Strengthening the UN-centered International System” 

(28 May 2026)

Mr. President,

My delegation thanks China for convening this timely debate on upholding the principles of the UN Charter which are now under existential threat.

Allow me to recall a historical fact that is too often overlooked.

The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic - though not a fully sovereign state in 1945 - was among the founding members of the United Nations.

That was not an act of generosity.

The international community recognized the immense sacrifice that the Ukrainian people had made in contributing to the victory over Nazism in Europe.

Ukraine was among those nations that suffered the most devastating human losses during the Second World War.

Nearly ten million Ukrainians have lost their lives.

Therefore, for us, Ukrainians, the principles enshrined in the UN Charter are not abstract concepts written on paper.

They are part of a legacy paid for with millions of lives.

That is the reason why defending the Charter, safeguarding its principles, and preserving the rules-based international order is a sacred duty for Ukraine.

It is a duty we owe to this and future generations who deserve to live in a world where aggression is punished and not rewarded.

Mr. President,

Just on Tuesday, in this very Chamber, we once again heard the representative of Russia deliver a familiar fairy-tale about Moscow’s alleged commitment to the principles of the UN Charter.

The real problem however is that while these sweet words may sound appealing in this hall, reality tells a completely different story.

Russia may pay lip service to the principles of the UN Charter here in New York while at the same time tramping these very principles underfoot in Ukraine.

Every single day and every single night, Russia rides roughshod over the very Charter it falsely claims to defend.

Russia does so with the bloody boots of its soldiers on Ukrainian soil, through deadly missiles destroying Ukrainian cities, hitting hospitals and schools, through drones hunting civilians on the streets like in a human safari, through forceful abduction of Ukrainian children, systematic torture and sexual violence and through the ongoing attempts to erase the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a fellow Member State.

Mr. President,

The level of hypocrisy and cynicism of Russia we are witnessing today has reached truly staggering proportions.

The Member States of the United Nations should no longer ignore this glaring gap between the sugar-coated declarations we still hear from Russia and its barbaric nature and brutal reality we see on the ground in Ukraine.

The uncomfortable truth is that, for years, Russia is attempting to rewrite borders by force like in the Medieval ages.

Russia has been feverishly constructing a parallel reality that seeks to displace and substitute the very principles of the UN Charter which Moscow so hypocritically pretends to uphold.

In that distorted parallel reality that Mr. Putin seeks to create aggression is rebranded as “self-defence”, occupation as “liberation”, and grave violations of international law as “acts of justice”.

Russia is peddling an alternative vision of international relations, one where might makes right, where force prevails over law, and where sovereign nations are denied the right to determine their own future.

Mr. President,

Among the most dangerous notions that Russia has been propagating is the perverse concept of so-called “legitimate security interests” as a justification for its barbaric war of aggression against Ukraine and now as a possible foundation for future peace proces.

I would respectfully ask the members of this Council: could anyone point me to a single provision of the UN Charter where this deeply flawed notion appears?

Yet, regrettably, this highly explosive distorted concept is resonating among some members of the United Nations. And that is precisely where the real danger lies.

Because once we begin to accept the idea that a powerful State may override the territorial integrity of its neighbour in pursuit of its so-called “security interests”, we are no longer defending the Charter.

We are dismantling it. Step by step, principle by principle, brick by brick.

Mr. President,

This raises a fundamental question:

what, concretely, must the Member States do to stop this undisguised erosion, this gradual hollowing out of the UN Charter by Russia and its proxies.

We must finally address the elephant in this room:

Russia’s blatant abuse of its veto power holding the Security Council hostage.

No one shall be allowed to misuse its privileged status as a license to act with impunity.

It is an open secret that Russia has hijacked the status of a permanent member of the Security Council on highly questionable legal grounds.

Russia has demonstrated that it is unworthy of this responsibility.

It is time for the UN Member States to finally show Russia a red card and deprive it from this unearned privilege.

We know it is not going to be an easy way. But it is inevitable.

I thank you.