Ukraine at UN Security Council urges nuclear powers not to ignore Russia-Belarus drills

He made the statement on Tuesday, May 19, during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, according to an Ukrinform correspondent in New York.

Melnyk stressed that the Kremlin’s statements about strength are accompanied by nuclear blackmail.

He referred to the announced test of the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental missile, capable of carrying up to 16 nuclear warheads, and stated that Russia regularly resorts to nuclear threats in response to setbacks on the battlefield.

The Ukrainian envoy also criticized the Russian-Belarusian nuclear drills, calling them “an unprecedented challenge to global security.”

According to Melnyk, the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus and the joint exercises violate the provisions of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

He urged nuclear powers, including the United Kingdom, France, the United States, and China, not to ignore Russia’s actions.

“We need a new sanctions regime against Russia’s nuclear arsenals,” the envoy said.

According to Melnyk, the military parade held in Moscow on May 9 demonstrated Russia’s vulnerability rather than strength. He described it as a “Potemkin spectacle” and a “theatrical victory parade,” saying that “the world witnessed what became a turning point in Russia’s war.”

“What was intended as a celebration of Russia’s ‘superpower’ marked the beginning of the end for Moscow’s imperial ambitions and the imminent collapse of Putin’s rule, teetering on its military, economic, and moral bankruptcy,” Melnyk said.

This was “perhaps the greatest self-humiliation in modern Russian history,” he added, noting that the parade, intended to showcase imperial power, instead looked like “the Russian empire rehearsing its own obituary.”

Melnyk stated that Ukraine had forced Russia to adjust the scale of its actions thanks to Ukraine’s ability to conduct drone strikes deep inside Russian territory.

“The illusion of Russian’s invincibility was ultimately cracked,” the diplomat stressed.

As reported by Ukrinform, on Tuesday, May 19, the United Nations Security Council convened an emergency meeting to discuss Russia’s massive attacks.