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 

“Maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine”

(20 April 2026)

Mr. President,

Distinguished Members of the Security Council,

I wish to thank the Presidency of Bahrain for convening this meeting and express my gratitude to the delegations of Denmark, France, Greece, Latvia, Liberia, and the United Kingdom for supporting Ukraine’s request.

I further thank the distinguished briefers, Assistant Secretary-General Mohamed Khaled Khiari and Assistant Secretary-General Joyce Msuya, for their sobering presentations and testimonials.

Once again, in this Chamber, we’ve heard shocking and unbearable facts of Russia’s systematic war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated against the civilian population in Ukraine.

All this evidence, so meticulously documented by the UN mission, will, I am convinced, become a key foundation for future judicial proceedings and the prosecution of all perpetrators of these outrageous crimes.

And the moment of accountability will come much sooner than many expect.

As regards alleged civil victims the Russian authorities have claimed I have to stress that these data cannot be verified by independent UN sources.

I must emphasize that Ukraine does not attack civilians. Period.

Mr. President,

More than 1,500 days have passed since the beginning of the Russian Federation’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian armed forces have continued to deliberately and systematically attack the civilian population of Ukraine and target critical civilian infrastructure using ballistic and cruise missiles, guided aerial bombs, multiple launch rocket systems, and deadly Shahed drones, resulting in significant casualties and destruction.

Russian drones hunt civilians like in a vicious video game. They strike ambulances. They hit emergency personnel and firefighters and OCHA staff and humanitarian workers, as we just heard in the briefing of ASG Msuya.

Just between March 30 and April 13, Russia launched over 3,600 strike UAVs, nearly 1,350 guided aerial bombs, and more than 40 missiles against Ukraine, killing at least 70 civilians and injuring more than 400 people.

And last week brought no relief from Russian terror. Moscow used over 2,360 strike UAVs, more than 1,320 guided bombs and nearly 60 missiles against Ukraine, killing and injuring dozens of innocent people.

On April 14, a Russian strike on the center of the city of Dnipro claimed the lives of five civilians and left twenty-seven others injured.

On the night of April 15, Russia carried out one of its deadliest attacks against civilians, using more than 700 ballistic and cruise missiles and drones. Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, and the Kherson region came under massive attack. At least 17 civilians were killed, and dozens were wounded. Among those killed in the capital was a 12-year-old boy.

I could continue this vast catalogue of new Russian war crimes, but regrettably, for some in this Chamber these horrific facts have been reduced to little more than routine wartime statistics and do not evoke the harsh reaction necessary to put Russia in its place.

This indifference must end.

Mr. President,

Before I proceed with my statement, I wish once again to briefly debunk the baseless accusations and propaganda we heard last time from the mouth of Russia’s representative.

To be frank, it is not easy for any person guided by common sense to provide a rational response to these Russian flows of distorted narratives and fabrications.

Ignorance, in this regard, might seem the most natural response to the constant stream of lies Russia has been spreading in this Chamber.

But this stance has created the illusion that what the Russian delegation says may have some factual basis, which is completely wrong.

So let me expose at least some of the groundless claims and absurd allegations that we heard last time in Mr. Nebenzya’s statement.

The representative of Russia expressed concern that the President of Ukraine is allegedly too worried about the international community’s attention shifting to the Middle East and therefore is actively engaging with the countries in the Gulf region.

In reality, this assertion reveals something else, namely Russia’s complete loss of credibility and growing irrelevance in this region.

The truth is that it is Ukraine that is extending a hand of practical assistance to its partners in the Gulf, helping them protect their energy infrastructure from criminal strikes by Iranian drones and missiles.

And it is Russia which is the main accomplice of the Tehran regime, that has betrayed the Gulf countries, delivered them a knife in the back, and abused its veto to block a crucial draft resolution on freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

Mr. President,

At the previous meeting, the Russian delegate once again lamented the alleged difficulties of mobilization in Ukraine, repeating a familiar repertoire of lies.

Instead of spreading disinformation about the Ukrainian army aimed at driving a wedge and sowing division in our society, perhaps Mr. Nebenzya should reflect on the alarming reality inside Russia’s armed forces.

Since the beginning of this year, Russia has been losing no fewer than 30,000 to 35,000 soldiers every single month.

In fact, Russian battlefield losses have exceeded monthly recruitment plans achieved through contract enlistment.

This reveals a growing structural crisis of Russia’s manpower system.

The Kremlin is increasingly struggling to attract volunteers for its vicious war of aggression despite unprecedented financial incentives. Russian regional authorities are engaged in an unsustainable bidding contest, offering ever-higher signing bonuses that far exceed average incomes.

Recruitment relies on coercion, pressure on vulnerable social groups, prisoners, migrant workers, recently naturalized citizens, and foreign mercenaries.

Newly recruited personnel are sent directly into high-attrition assaults without adequate training.

Given the unprecedented casualty rates, recruits whom Mr. Putin is sending into the meat grinder on Ukrainian soil face an extremely short life expectancy measured in weeks or even days.

So before lecturing others, Russia should confront the uncomfortable truth: it is not Ukraine that faces a mobilization crisis, we fight for our homeland, it is Russia that is burning through its own population.

Mr. President,

In my previous statement, I presented clear evidence of why Russia is going to lose this war because of its disastrous economic situation.

Today I will demonstrate why Mr. Putin will fail and be defeated from a military point of view.

No army since World War I has paid such an astronomical death toll for such negligible territorial gains as Russia.

According to battlefield assessments, Russia is currently losing on average 254 soldiers for every square kilometer of Ukrainian territory it still manages to occupy.

To put this into historical perspective, let me remind that during the Winter War of 1939–1940 — an illegal aggression launched by the Soviet Union against Finland — the cost in human lives per square kilometer was roughly one hundred times lower.

This comparison illustrates a fundamental reality of this war: Russia is achieving minimal territorial gains at an extraordinarily high human price.

At present, Russia does not control more than 20 percent of the Donetsk region, territory which Mr. Putin has been demanding, in the form of an ultimatum, that Ukraine surrender without a fight.

This is pure blackmail.

We are speaking about 6,000 square kilometers.

Russia demands Ukraine to abandon one of its most heavily fortified and logistically developed defensive lines. And we must not forget, first and foremost,that, beyond these fortifications, there are cities and villages where Ukrainianslive.

How can we leave hundreds of thousands of these people to their fate to face barbarians bringing death and destruction?

Taking into account the current — staggering and appalling — rate of Russian losses for every square kilometer of Ukrainian soil, the bloody arithmetic becomes clearer.

The calculation is very simple: just multiply 6,000 by 254 dead soldiers for each square kilometer.

According to this brutal logic of war, in order to seize the whole territory of the Donetsk region by military means, Mr. Putin would have to send at least another one and a half million soldiers to their deaths.

This mathematics is truly mind-boggling.

In practical terms, this would effectively amount to more than doubling Russia’s current human losses in this war, bringing the total beyond 3 million casualties.

Even for Mr. Putin, for whom the value he attaches to the lives of his own citizens appears to be worth less than a penny, such a figure would be catastrophic.

That is why the Kremlin turned to the pseudo-negotiation tactics, trying to achieve this goal through diplomatic pressure on Ukraine. But it is not going to work.

If one were to apply the current rate of Russian casualties to Mr. Putin’s real objective which is occupying the entire territory of Ukraine, the conclusion becomes almost unimaginable.

It would imply that Russia would have to sacrifice over 122 million soldiers to reach this goal.

Let me repeat: 122 million Russians would have to die in order to achieve Mr. Putin’s bizarre dream of conquering Ukraine.

Let me remind this Council that Russia’s current population is about 140 million people — a population already in dramatic demographic decline.

It is quite difficult, using all imagination, to describe the expected loss of more than 122 million Russian lives as a “glorious victory,” isn’t it?

Besides, as I noted, not without irony, in my previous statement, given the snail’s pace of Russia’s military advances, this inglorious “victory” would take about 183 years.

Well, Mr. Putin seems to be a military “genius” with this brilliant war strategy, doesn’t he?

But even he, with all his megalomania, cannot fail to understand that his insane objective of capturing Ukraine is one he will never be able to achieve by military means.

So instead of conquering Ukraine, Mr. Putin appears more likely to destroy Russia itself.

Against the backdrop of massive military losses, a collapsing economy, and growing internal social turmoil, the territorial disintegration of Russia may become only a matter of time.

It is precisely for this reason that Mr. Putin is raising the stakes in his ferocious game, issuing ultimatums and addressing US mediators, demanding that Ukraine voluntarily withdraw from the Donetsk region as a precondition for peace talks.

I wish to reiterate once and for all that Ukraine rejects any type of ultimatum. We will never abandon a single square millimeter of our soil. We will never abandon any of our fellow citizens.

Mr. President,

Let me remind the Council that Russia is – at least for the time being - the largest country on the planet, with 17.1 million square kilometers.

So, 6,000 square kilometers of the Donetsk region represent just 0.03 percent of Russia’s territory. I repeat: 0.03 percent.

Can anyone in this Chamber explain Russia’s obsession with seizing yet another few square kilometers of Ukrainian land?

Mr. Putin wants to convince American mediators and the broader international community that peace itself hinges on Ukraine’s voluntary surrender of the Donetsk region and that, once this demand is met, Russia will at last be happy and eternal peace will follow.

Does anyone seriously believe this fairy tale? We don’t.

What is the purpose of this relentless war of conquest when only about 1 percent of Russia’s vast territory is populated and developed, while the remaining 99 percent are largely neglected and, at best, partially exploited for natural resource extraction?

Moreover, during his 26-year rule, Mr. Putin has effectively abandoned his population, many of whom still struggle with the most basic standards of sanitation.

According to official statistical data, one-fourth of Russian households do not have access to centralized sewage systems or indoor sanitation facilities.

In rural areas, the situation is even more severe: in some regions, up to two-thirds of households must rely on outdoor pit latrines.

Let us imagine the scale of the absurdity we are dealing with.

On the one hand, Russia demands recognition as a “great superpower,” claiming the right to redraw state borders by force and impose a new sphere of influence.

Yet, on the other hand, around 35 million Russian citizens still rely on outside toilets — shabby wooden huts in yards and gardens.

Let me repeat: thirty-five million Russians have no toilet at home.

This is roughly the population of Malaysia, Poland, or Saudi Arabia and is comparable to the population of Texas, or almost that of California.

Mr. Putin wants Russia to be seen as a respected global player while living conditions for a huge part of Russia’s population remain no better than in the early Middle Ages.

This is the true paradox before us: Mr. Putin seeks imperial expansion abroad while failing to secure basic human dignity at home.

Mr. President,

Just a few days ago, we commemorated the sad fourth anniversary of the horrific war crimes committed by Russian soldiers in the occupied city of Bucha, as well as in neighboring communities during the first month of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

After Russian forces were driven out, more than 450 murdered civilians were found in Bucha alone — men and women executed in the streets, tortured in basements, and buried in mass graves.

One of the factors helping to explain the brutality witnessed in Bucha and other Ukrainian towns under Russian occupation was a deep sense of resentment and hatred described in numerous testimonies and investigation findings.

Russian soldiers, many of whom still live in medieval conditions using pit latrines, were confronted with something they had never expected to see: ordinary Ukrainian families living with dignity in modern homes, within communities that had built prosperity over thirty years of independence.

It was this encounter that generated additional hostility and fueled rage and barbarity among Russian occupiers. It translated into the gravest atrocities against civilians, shocking the conscience of mankind and standing as one of the darkest chapters in modern history.

Mr. President,

We call upon our American partners not to weaken but to strengthen the sanctions regime on Russian energy exports.

The recent exemption is expected to generate about 10 billion dollars in additional oil revenues for Russia in April alone.

Does anyone believe these windfall revenues will fund schools, hospitals, or sanitation?

They will finance Russia’s war of annihilation against Ukraine: enough to produce up to half a million deadly Shahed drones. How many more Ukrainian civilians will be killed?

Thus, we appeal to our American partners to rely far more on the “stick” than the “carrot” in their carrot-and-stick approach to restore a just and lasting peace.

We also urge our European allies to take decisive action to end, once and for all, the shameful practice of Russia’s shadow fleet — an opaque system that keeps its energy exports flowing. This loophole must be closed forever.

At the same time, we call on countries of the Global South to reconsider their current stance and join the existing regime of coordinated sanctions against Russia’s oil, gas, and coal sectors.

I also urge the Global South countries that cannot support Ukraine with defense weapons at least to react to the appeal of USG Msuya and close a USD 1.7 billion gap in funding humanitarian program in Ukraine. As we heard in today’s briefing, OCHA cannot reach 7 out of 8 Ukrainians in need affected by Russia’s war.

I would also like to address our European allies and express Ukraine’s gratitude for your staunch support in resisting Russian aggression. This solidarity will go down in history.

The fact that the Russian representative, in every statement does not conceal his dissatisfaction with how firmly Europe stands on the side of Kyiv is itself yet another testament to the exceptional nature of this alliance.

Let me remind that EU combined GDP is eleven times larger than that of Russia.

At the same time, we call upon our European allies to make another historic step and take a political decision to raise military assistance for Ukraine to the level of 1% of GDP.

This would send a powerful signal to Moscow that Mr. Putin has already lost this war.

Mr. President,

With peace negotiations frozen by Russia for nearly two months, we are convinced that the Security Council must provide the necessary impetus and move, without delay, toward the adoption of a new strong resolution.

We would particularly appeal to our European friends, members of this Council, to demonstrate leadership commensurate with the seriousness of the moment and to bring forward a respective draft resolution as soon as possible.

I hope some may draw inspiration from the courageous delegation of Bahrain, which, despite strong headwinds and discouragement, showed genuine resolve and leadership and ultimately contributed to the adoption of resolution 2817.

If Mr. Putin were serious about his Easter ceasefire proposal, he would not veto a new resolution establishing an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and an exchange of prisoners of war on an all-for-all basis.

This new resolution should not be yet another political statement without consequences.

It must become a firm instrument of enforcement designed to compel a genuine cessation of hostilities and ensure its implementation.

It should be backed by credible measures of pressure, including targeted sanctions, in line with established Security Council practice.

Distinguished members, let us not only debate, as we do every month, but fully use the competence of this body and finally act.

Mr. President,

Let me conclude by reiterating again that Russia has no chance to win this war. There is nothing that can save Mr. Putin, not even high oil prices.

And I would like to address the Russian representative - traditionally - in Russian language that was, quite literally, drilled into us with force in Soviet schools by Moscow rulers.

I will do it again also to lay bare Mr. Putin’s fake narrative as if this language were allegedly persecuted or banned in Ukraine, that is not true:

Поздно, Вася, пить боржоми.

It’s too late to drink Borjomi mineral water once the kidneys have failed.

I thank you for your attention.