At a heated UN Security Council briefing on Ukraine, Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative Dmitry Polyanskiy launched a broadside against European states and their allies, accusing them of manipulating international discourse and prolonging the war for their own interests.
Polyanskiy dismissed the meeting as a staged “tour” for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whom he described as a “former actor” leading a regime guilty of corruption, political repression, and the persecution of Russian-speaking citizens. He charged that European sponsors of Ukraine presented the nation as a model democracy while personal rights are violated and neo-Nazi symbols and persons are glorified.
The West ignores the true historical roots of the conflict, Polyanskiy said. He cited NATO’s expansion and the 2014 events in Kyiv as the real catalysts of the crisis. He argued that Western powers selectively apply international law and deliberately turn a blind eye to civilian casualties caused by Ukrainian forces. Russia, he insisted, conducts only precision strikes aimed at military infrastructure.
