Kuleba: While UNSC discusses possibility of achieving peace, Russia continues to kill

Kuleba told how a residential building in Odesa had just been hit, as a result of which two civilians were taken to hospital with serious injuries, an Ukrinform correspondent in New York reported.

"I'm afraid that someone is going to die in Ukraine before this meeting is adjourned. Because talking about negotiations is one thing. But throwing more drones and missiles on Ukraine as Russia does every day is completely another thing," he said.

According to the top diplomat, today Russia’s name is synonymous with aggression, war crimes, and barbarism.

“Its ugly faces the direct result of its impunity, stemming first and foremost from its presence in this chamber’s seat. This is the seat of the Soviet Union, a state that does not exist anymore, and it has never been legally transferred to the Russian Federation," the minister noted.

It is an example of "how a small fraud led to a global catastrophe," he added. Russia has no legal right to be present at this table, and "in the future, the reform should correct this historic mistake that led to deadly consequences," noted Kuleba.

He reminded that Putin's regime destroyed the lives of millions of people over the past 24 years. During this time, Moscow has launched or joined three major wars – in Georgia, Ukraine, and Syria, which amounts to approximately one war every eight years, the foreign minister explained. The Kremlin also stands behind the coup attempt in Montenegro and destabilization in the Sahel region.

Telling about the victorious reports voiced by Russian propagandists regarding the capture of Avdiivka, Kuleba said that its streets are "literally covered with the corpses of Russian soldiers in the so-called meat assault."

“This is not how we call them. This is how they the Russians themselves call this barbaric war tactic. They sent their own people into meat assault, conquer at any cost. This is their strategy. Russia has pet paid for the ruins of Avdiivka with the lives of at least 17,000 Russian soldiers since October 2023. This is more casualties in a few months than in 10 years of the Soviet war in Afghanistan,” Kuleba noted.

He emphasized that Ukraine categorically rejects any attempts by Russia to evade responsibility. "Instead of watching Moscow create problems and inviting others to solve them, which is the usual Russian strategy. We must push Russia back because Russia itself is the problem," Kuleba said.

Ukraine wants peace more than any other nation, he stressed, "however, we are not going to allow Russia to kill us freely on the road to peace,” the minister emphasized. " Nor will we ever accept any offer to surrender or to concede our lands and freedoms under the guise of peace," he added. Kuleba called for providing more air defense capabilities to Ukraine to protect civilians and ammunition to stop the Russian army, otherwise the world will be “doomed to pay a much higher price in the future."

As reported, on Friday the UN Security Council held an open debate on the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Earlier that day, the General Assembly held a meeting on the situation of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.