🎙 Statement by Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN Vassily Nebenzia at a UNGA Emergency Special Session on Ukraine (New York, February 24, 2025)

💬 Vassily Nebenzia: Today, we are witnessing historic events that not every generation gets a chance to share. It is a multipolar world that is taking shape before our very eyes now. This world should have come into being 30 years ago, upon the end of the Cold War, which drew a line under the ideological confrontation between the USSR and the West.

At that time, the world was replete with hopes for a better future, for mutually beneficial cooperation between key players in the interests of all mankind, for cessation of wars, and for the establishment of a new, indivisible security architecture whereby former adversaries would become allies who address international problems together.

Unfortunately, this logic didn’t prevail then, and the ideology of cooperation was gradually supplanted by the philosophy of a “zero-sum game”. This was not our choice, and we warned many times about the dangers that such logic is fraught with.

❗️ As a result, the world ended up on the brink of a third world war because of the anti-Russian project “Ukraine” that had been implemented by Western countries in their geopolitical interests on our borders. <...>

Ukraine itself has set off a clockwork mechanism of self-destruction by hatred, intolerance and hostility. This could have been stopped by the Minsk Agreements, which were endorsed by the UN Security Council exactly 10 years ago, but instead of implementing them, the Kiev regime (under the patronage of its Western sponsors), as we all know today, opted for sabotaging them, while actively arming itself and preparing for war with Russia.

Another attempt to stop this mechanism was undertaken by the citizens of Ukraine, when three quarters of them voted for the new Ukrainian president Zelensky in May 2019, as he promised to establish peace in the east of the country and protect the Russian language and the rights of Russian-speaking citizens, he also promised to stop glorifying Nazi henchmen and restore good-neighborly relations with Russia.

⚠️ However, when he became president, he treacherously turned the country back to its previous suicidal and inhumane course. <...>

We tried to sort it out peacefully with Kiev, Washington and Brussels, but no one listened to us, no one took us seriously. It was only three years ago when we launched our special military operation, clearly stating its goals. We were compelled to do that because it became absolutely clear that Ukraine would soon cross both “red lines”.

At the same time, from the very get-go we have reiterated our willingness to achieve the goals of the special military operation through peaceful means, and we have always preferred such a solution. <...>

Over the past three years, Ukraine received hundreds of billions of dollars in Western aid, the country received ample Western weapons and mercenaries, as well as intelligence data. In other words, Ukraine has become something like a private military company fighting for Western geopolitical interests, and the conflict has become a textbook example of a proxy war waged between Russia and NATO countries.

Despite this, the Ukrainian army suffered catastrophic losses and the capitulation of the Kiev regime is only a matter of time. <...>

The hopelessness of the Zelensky regime is something that has become evident in recent weeks even to the main sponsor of the Kiev junta – the United States.

The new Republican administration, led by President Donald Trump, has finally seen the true face of the “expired” Ukrainian president and realized that he is absolutely not interested in having peace in his country, because he is at pains to cling onto power and he fears democratic elections, which he has no chance to win.

👉 He is not interested in anything else, and he is ready to sacrifice the entire population of Ukraine and all its natural resources only to remain in power.

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