At the UN Security Council, Ukraine called for a response to the nuclear exercises conducted by Russia and Belarus

Andriy Melnyk, Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the UN, called on nuclear-armed states—including the United Kingdom, France, the United States, and China—not to ignore the joint nuclear exercises conducted by Russia and Belarus. The diplomat called these maneuvers and the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus an unprecedented challenge to global security, which contradicts the provisions of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. 

He made this statement at a meeting of the UN Security Council, according to Ukrinform. Ukraine also called for the implementation of a new sanctions regime against Russian nuclear arsenals, as the Kremlin’s statements about its military might are regularly accompanied by nuclear blackmail, including announcements of tests of the “Sarmat” intercontinental ballistic missile.

According to the permanent representative, Russia resorts to nuclear threats in response to its own failures on the front lines, where Ukraine has forced Moscow to scale back its operations due to drone strikes deep into Russian territory. Andriy Melnyk noted that the illusion of Russian invincibility has finally shattered, and the military parade in Moscow on May 9 demonstrated not the strength but the vulnerability of the Russian Federation, becoming a Potemkin village, a theatrical victory, and the beginning of the end of the Kremlin’s imperial ambitions. The diplomat added that despite the lack of military successes, Moscow continues to demand Ukraine’s surrender, to which he responded with the phrase “you can kiss my ass” and quoted lines from the poet Mikhail Lermontov about unwashed Russia.