🎙 Statement by Vassily Nebenzia at a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine (New York, May 28, 2026)

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💬 What is particularly striking is the hypocrisy and cynical reaction of European delegations, which are usually quick to level accusations against Russia whenever politically convenient, but in this case chose to effectively ignore the tragedy in Starobelsk and shift the blame onto Moscow.

But we were not surprised then, and we are not surprised now. What human compassion can we expect from them when the blood of the children of Starobelsk is on their hands as well?

⚠️ For many years, their countries have been supplying the terrorist Zelensky regime with money, intelligence, weapons and ammunition, encouraging it to commit new crimes against civilians, and then shielding it by portraying it as a victim.

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The UN Secretariat, so prompt in some cases, has unfortunately once again limited itself to general rhetoric and the vaguest possible wording, avoiding a direct assessment of Kiev’s actions. It claims there is no access to the site of the tragedy and no possibility to verify the data.

We have repeatedly stated that UN representatives can visit the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions via Russian territory. Yet UN officials do not make use of these opportunities.

❓ Why does the UN Secretariat so easily find the words when it needs to support the Western version of events, yet struggle so painfully to choose its wording when it must call a Ukrainian strike on children a crime?

Why do some victims deserve immediate compassion, while others do not? Why does the death of minors in one place prompt loud statements and condemnations, while the deaths of children in Starobelsk are met with silence?

☝️ Here is yet another glaring manifestation of the West’s double standards and hypocrisy.

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The events of the past week have clearly shown that neither the leader of the Kiev regime nor his sponsors seek any substantive dialogue with our country on the prospects for a peaceful settlement. On the contrary, they are doing everything to escalate the confrontation.

❗️ Routine calls for an unconditional ceasefire are merely a cover for Kiev to continue its terror.

The so-called leaders of Europe are only encouraging Zelensky’s already reckless and suicidal mindset. The tone of their comments leaves no doubt that they have finally and irreversibly written Ukraine off, once again trying to buy time for their insane preparations for “war with Russia”.

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The Western propaganda machine works day and night for one purpose only – to shift responsibility for the latest actions of “civilised” states in Ukraine onto our country.

Let me say this at once: they will not get away with it. They will inevitably be held accountable for their reckless and predatory actions against both Russia and Ukraine.

👉 It is obvious that without military pressure, no calls for real diplomacy will work. Russia's Armed Forces will continue fulfilling the objectives of the special military operation to denazify and demilitarise Ukraine until the security threats emanating from its territory are fully eliminated.

💬 Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova:

June 1 marks International Children’s Day.

For Russia, protecting children is a key domestic and foreign policy priority. We proceed from the understanding that the Convention on the Rights of the Child is the “gold standard” in this field. Over the three decades of its existence, it has not lost its relevance. It is thanks to this document that care for minors is regarded as one of the most important tasks for any state.

At the same time, despite the progress achieved globally, grave challenges and appalling problems persist in this area: hunger, lack of access to healthcare, violence and conflicts, and terrorist attacks against children.

Children’s issues are being heavily politicised, double standards are being promoted, and certain countries are unscrupulously exploiting the emotional nature of this undoubtedly sensitive matter to spread lies, slander and disinformation against other states.

The most telling example of such approaches is, of course, the story of the so-called “abducted Ukrainian children”. Let me recall: the Kiev regime invented a story alleging that Russia had abducted them. For years, it has fanatically replicated this myth on every international platform. And those platforms have been only too happy to listen – without bothering to verify the facts.

At the same time, they cynically ignore the fact that our country, acting on instructions from its leadership, has been working to reunite children with their families since the very beginning of the special military operation.

As of today, 30 children from 22 families have returned to Russia from Ukraine, while 141 minors from 114 families have been reunited with their parents or relatives living in Ukraine and other countries.

#KievRegimgeCrimes

Zelensky’s Western handlers prefer to ignore the fact that the war unleashed by the Kiev regime against the people of Donbass in 2014 has taken its heaviest toll on children.

From 2014 to February 2022, at least 129 children were killed and more than 500 wounded in the LPR and DPR. The youngest victim of Ukrainian aggression was only 27 days old.

◼️ Let me also recall the most egregious cases of the past three years 👇

• The attack on central Belgorod on December 30, 2023, ahead of the holidays, when shelling of a New Year fairground, Christmas tree and skating rink killed 25 people, including 5 children, and wounded more than 100 civilians.

• Comparable in its deliberate cruelty was the ATACMS missile strike on Uchkuyevka city beach in Sevastopol on June 23, 2024, where many families were spending their Sunday afternoon. A total of 153 civilians were injured, including 27 children. Four people were killed, among them two children aged two and nine.

• On the night of December 31, 2025 to January 1, 2026, the Ukrainian militants launched a targeted drone strike on a café and hotel in the village of Khorly, Kherson Region, where civilians had gathered to celebrate the New Year. 29 people were killed, including two children.

• On May 22, the Ukrainian militants attacked the academic building and dormitory of Starobelsk College in the LPR at night. More than 80 people sustained injuries of varying severity, 21 were killed. All of them were ordinary students.

The Kiev regime is targeting children in Russia through phone calls and messages – seeking to deceive them and cause harm by exploiting their trust and lack of understanding of the legal consequences of their actions.

There is also a system for recruiting schoolchildren via social media: children are offered money and manipulated into gathering information. There is evidence that Ukraine is using the internet to draw children into games that may have fatal consequences.

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🇷🇺 Russia's High Commissioner for Human Rights Yana Lantratova:

💬 Today, we mark International Children’s Day – a holiday that reminds us of every child’s right to a happy childhood, development and safety.

This day is already more than a century old, and over sixty countries around the world have joined this initiative. Yet there are also those who have begun to abandon this date – shifting it to other days, rewriting its history and distorting the very meaning of the holiday.

Last year, Zelensky shifted the holiday to another date in order to conform to “Western standards”. This year, on the eve of this date, a terrible tragedy took place in Starobelsk – one that crossed out the most fundamental human right: the right to life.

Ukrainian militants deliberately struck children who were asleep in their beds. 86 people sustained injuries, 21 children were killed.

Most of them were girls: Anya, Taisiya, Alina, Elena, Sofia, Darya, Alexandra, Tatyana, Oksana, Yana, Veronika, Anastasia, Victoria, Irina, Alisa and many others.

Unfortunately, the international community’s position on this issue remains ambiguous. Many prefer to keep silent or pretend that nothing happened, ignoring the obvious facts of the crime.

❗️ Our task is to preserve the truth and achieve justice. Impunity for such war crimes is unacceptable.

Do you know why it is important to mark Children’s Protection Day? Precisely because humanity must remember: protecting children’s rights is our shared priority and sacred duty.

✉️ Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s message to organisers and participants of the 11th International Conference, Russia and China: Cooperation in a New Era (June 1, 2026)

✍️ I cordially welcome the organisers and participants of the 11th International Conference, Russia and China: Cooperation in a New Era – a forum of high standing sponsored by the Russian International Affairs Council and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

This year is special for Russia-China relations. Thirty years ago, our Leaders proclaimed, in a Joint Declaration, for the first time ever, a fundamentally new model of relations between countries in the form of an equal and trust-based partnership underpinned by strategic interaction in the 21st century.

25 years ago, on July 16, 2001, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and President of the People’s Republic of China Jiang Zemin signed the Treaty of Good-Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation.

Without exaggeration, this landmark document opened a new chapter in the history of centuries-old Russia-China ties and reflected the deep historical traditions of neighbourliness and friendship between our peoples. It laid a solid foundation for building a multi-level architecture of comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction based on equality and mutual benefit.

The trajectory of these relations relies on Leader diplomacy meaning a trust-based dialogue at the top level. It is therefore absolutely natural that, during President Putin’s official visit to China on May 19-20, the Leaders of Russia and China confirmed the renewal of the Treaty for five more years.

☝️ The principles of the Treaty have stood the test of time and continue to stand in today’s realities that include mutual support in matters concerning protection of state unity and territorial integrity, respect for each other’s choice of political, economic, social and cultural development paths, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, the absence of mutual territorial claims, and the determination of Moscow and Beijing to turn the common border into a belt of eternal peace and friendship.

Russia-China relations do not imply restrictions on the sovereignty of either Side, are not constrained by ideology, and are not directed against third countries. They remain resilient to external influences.

The Treaty established guidelines for practical interaction, contributing to the expansion of trade and economic ties and the promotion of cultural and humanitarian contacts by orders of magnitude. Holding cross thematic years has become an established tradition. Just recently, President Vladimir Putin and President Xi Jinping launched another seminal joint initiative, namely, Russia-China Years of Cooperation in Education.

The Treaty is important internationally. The Russia-China foreign policy partnership based on overlapping interests and close approaches to international issues serves as a core stabilising factor in international affairs. Moscow and Beijing cooperate effectively on multilateral platforms, primarily the #UN and its Security Council, the #SCO, #BRICS, the #G20, and #ASEAN-centred formats.

In conjunction with their like-minded partners, Russia and China are contributing to building a more just #MultipolarWorld. They are doing much to create a space of equal and indivisible security and cooperation in Eurasia.

The broad bilateral agenda requires all dialogue mechanisms to be continuously fine-tuned. In this regard, the role of the expert, scientific and academic communities can hardly be overestimated. Your conference will undoubtedly make its own valuable contribution to these shared efforts.

🤝 I wish you productive work and all the very best.

SERGEY LAVROV