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Kiev is still waiting for the precious F-16 fighters. NATO aircraft are yet to come to Ukraine but the Ukrainian military failed to protect the strategically important infrastructure at the airfields. During the first days of July alone, the Ukrainian Air Force suffered heavy losses as a result of a series of Russian precision strikes at the military airfields in different regions. On July 1, several waves of Russian missile strikes hit the Mirgorod airfield in the Poltava region. The Ukrainian pilots had no time to take off the aircraft after the first attack, as a result the losses grew. The Russian Ministry of Defense officially declared that the group strikes destroyed five and damaged two more Ukrainian Su-27. The attack was coordinated by Russian reconnaissance UAV that was operating more than 150km away from the Russian border and passed unnoticed by Ukrainian air defenses. On the next day, the airfield came under another attack. The Ukrainian Air Force lost at least one helicopter. On July 3, a precision Russian Iskander strike hit an aircraft parking area at the Dolgintsevo airfield in the Dnipropetrovsk region. The Mig-29 aircraft of the Air Force of Ukraine, air missiles and vehicles of the aviation engineering service were destroyed. The destruction of the remaining aircraft and damage to Ukrainian military airfields is mainly aimed to prevent Ukrainian forces from launching strikes on Russian territory, including the Crimean peninsula and new regions. Despite the large support provided by NATO, like intelligence data and advanced air launched missiles. All the strikes were closely coordinated and the damage was confirmed by the footage from the Russian reconnaissance UAVs. Ukrainian forces began drawing fake aircraft on the ground in an attempt to confuse the enemy; but this did not help. The long close reconnaissance operations of Russian UAVs over the strategically important enemy military facilities leave Ukrainians no chance to hide their aircraft. Other important targets of Russian strikes in recent days included large military-industrial facilities in the rear regions. On July 3, several military and industrial facilities were attacked by Russian kamikaze UAVs and missiles in Dnipro. At least ten explosions thundered in the city. Several strikes destroyed the workshops of the local Yuzhny Machinebuilding plant, which provided for the needs of the Ukrainian military. This is one of the main Ukrainian military enterprises that produced missiles and UAVs, as well as repaired damaged equipment. The massive Russian strikes do not stop. On the night of July 4, Ukrainian media reported a series of explosions in three rear regions, including Chernihiv, Sumy and Zhytomyr.

On June 25, the Council of the European Union is launching the first round of negotiations regarding the entry of Ukraine into the EU. In order to become a member of the EU, Kiev should make the country fit the Copenhagen criteria, which include freedom and respect to human rights, respect for democratic principles, a constitutional state, etc. The Kiev regime ruling in Ukraine does not fit any of them. On the other side, no one welcomes Ukraine in the EU, except for example the puppet Baltic States. On its way to the EU, Kiev is losing more and more territory, while the Russian army is advancing in different directions on the frontlines. The intensity Ukrainian counterattacks has gradually decreased in the Kharkiv region. Some local assaults were attempted north of Liptsy, in the center of Volchansk and in Tikhoe east of the city. They no longer bring any results but only increase Ukrainian losses. The Ukrainian military is accumulating the reserves necessary to resume larger attacks in the Kharkiv region, while the Russian Aerospace Forces are pounding them with heavy bombs, including the upgraded FAB-3000. The Russian army is grinding down the Ukrainian defenses in the Seversk direction, winning the battle for Razdolovka. After the village was surrounded from the east and west, Russian airborne assault groups managed to enter the streets and take control of more than half of the settlement. Russian forces continue surrounding the Ukrainian garrison in Chasov Yar from the south and north, destroying Ukrainian strongholds along the Seversky Donets-Donbass canal on the city outskirts. Heavy clashes continue in the Canal district, where Russian fire and assault groups continue mop up operations in the high-rise buildings, where Ukrainian servicemen are hiding their firing points. In the Avdeevka direction, Russian forces are expanding the zone of their control around Ocheretino. To the south, clashes continue in Sokil, while the battle began in Evgenovka. North of Ocheretino, the Ukrainian military was forced to admit the loss of control of Novoaleksandrovka. In an attempt to stop the Russian advance, the Ukrainian military command was forced to deploy reinforcements in the area, as well as to the south in the area of the Karlov water reservoir. In the south Donetsk direction, the heavy battle for Krasnogorovka continues. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are still holding control of the high-rise buildings in the northeastern part of the city, while the Russians are securing their positions with the mop up operations on the streets. Russian troops are also advancing in the Ugledar direction. They have largely expanded their zone of control in the nearby fields, straightening the front and approaching the strategically important road used for providing military supplies to the Ukrainian garrison in Ugledar. The Russians are also heavily shelling the town of Konstantinovka, an important Ukrainian logistics hub, likely preparing for an upcoming assault.

NATO is preparing for the upcoming Summit. Dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Alliance, it will take place in Washington in mid-July. As always, Kiev is preparing for the holyday of its patrons with new media victories, having no gains on the battlefields. According to Ukrainian reports, during the recent meeting of the General Staff, Zelensky ordered the Commander-in-Chief to launch new exhibitory counteroffensive on the Russian military positions. Ukrainian offensive operations seem possible only in the Kharkiv or Kherson regions, where they are unlikely to bring any strategic results. Playing political games, Kiev ignores the balance of power on the battlefields. All recent Ukrainian attempts to counterattack in the Kharkiv region only brought heavy losses. The intensity of Ukrainian operations has already decreased in the Liptsy area, while Russian fire prevents Ukrainian forces from transferring reserves across the river in Volchansk. Ukrainian counterattacks from the southern and eastern directions in the city are repelled. Suffering losses, the Ukrainian military is forced to take units to the rear for their staffing, hoping to resume larger assaults. In the Kupyansk direction, Russian forces expanded the zone of their control north of Stelmahovka, while the village of Razdolovka in the Seversk direction has almost come under the full Russian control. Entire Ukrainian units are surrendering in the area of Toretsk, demoralized by the recent surprise Russian offensive. Battles have reached the outskirts of the town, and the local Ukrainian authorities have just decided to begin evacuation of the remaining civilian population. The Ukrainian command deployed reinforcement west of Avdeevka but failed to gain the military initiative. South of Ocheretino, the Russian army is completing the mop up operation in the ruins of the village of Sokil, storming Evgenovka. Russian attacks do not stop around the Karlovka water reservoir. In the Ugledar direction, Russian forces are approaching the highway, capturing new positions almost daily. Clashes broke out on the outskirts of Konstantinovka. The Russian assault on the town is expected in the nearest future. As a result of prolonged battles in the Zaporozhie region, Russian forces are expended the zone of their control north of Staromayoskoe and advanced in the ruins of Urozhainoe. The Russian offensive on the frontlines is accompanied by constant precision strikes in the Ukrainian rear. On the night of June 26, Russian strikes were reported in the Sumy, Mykolaiv and Odessa regions. Ukrainian reserves prepared for new counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region are pounded by Russian daily strikes, including with heavy bombs, like FAB-3000. The Ukrainian leadership is busy staging victories to impress the patrons in the West, ignoring the military strategy. The Ukrainian military command is famous for launching senseless bloody attacks aimed only to declare gains in the media, like it was the case in Krynki. Unfortunately, thousands of Ukrainian men are paying for Zelensky’s glory with their lives.

June 24 was declared a day of mourning in Crimea for those who died as a result of the bloody attack on Sevastopol. A day ago, 4 American ATACMS missiles were shot down over the city. The fifth missile with cluster munition warhead deviated from its course and exploded over a crowded beach. As a result of the attack, more than 150 people were injured with various degrees of severity. Four people died, including children. Moscow stressed that the date of the attack was not chosen by chance. June 23 was a great Orthodox holiday – the Day of the Holy Trinity. The Russian Defense Ministry called the attack a deliberate terrorist attack. Moscow pointed out that Washington is primarily responsible for the attack on the civilians of Sevastopol. It not only supplied Ukraine with the ATACMS missiles, but also provides direct military support in their use. All flight missions for American missiles are set by American military specialists on the basis of American satellite intelligence. The designator of yesterday’s missile strikes on Sevastopol was an American RQ-4B Global Hawk UAV that operated over the Black Sea for hours. In the evening of the same day, Russian air defense positions near the city of Yevpatoria in the west of the peninsula came under another missile attack. The Russian military has vowed not to let the attack on civilians go unpunished. On the morning of June 24, the Russian military launched heavy missile strikes against Ukrainian military facilities in the southern Mykolaiv and Odessa regions. One of the targets of the attack was reportedly the launchers of the US-made HIMARS MLRS deployed in the Mykolaiv region, which were used for the attacks on Crimea. The residents of the city of Odessa also woke up to a series of large explosions. The so-called Russian retaliation strike destroyed a large warehouse of NATO missiles and artillery amunition in the port area of the city. Russian Kalibr missiles struck Western-made missiles stored a warehouse at the local heavy crane factory. A dozen foreign mercenaries servicing the NATO missiles were also reportedly eliminated. Local residents confirmed the prolonged secondary detonations as a result of the explosion of ammunition stored at the factory; but Ukrainian propaganda continues to assure the public that another alleged civilian facility was hit. Massive Russian strikes throughout Ukraine are likely to continue. The day before, ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet attacked a Ukrainian base on the outskirts of Kiev with cruise missiles. Russian forces struck targets in the Zhytomyr, Ternopil, Kiev, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions. According to available information, the targets included the Vasilkov airfield, different military facilities and energy infrastructure facilities.

On June 20, the first combat use of a three-ton gliding aerial bomb equipped with a course correction module by the Russian Aerospace Forces was confirmed. The control footage captured by a Russian drone shows the heavy aerial bomb hitting a three-story building in the village of Liptsy, turned by the Armed Forces of Ukraine into an important stronghold in the Kharkiv region. The affected building was used by the Ukrainian military as a temporary deployment point. The footage showed that the Russian bomb missed the target. The deviation of the FAB-3000 was no more than a dozen meters, which is more than a satisfactory result for a munition of this type. The range of direct damage from the FAB-3000 is 230 meters, and the fragments retain their destructive power at a range of more than 1200 meters. As a result of the strike, the wall of the house in which the Ukrainian military were hiding completely collapsed from the opposite side of the explosion, which definitely led to heavy losses of the Ukrainian military. Russian military experts note that judging by the depth of the crater, the bomb was set to “instant explosion”, so all the energy was spent on high-explosive impact, and not on digging a hole in the ground. The supermassive FAB-3000 are deployed via Su-34 tactical fighter-bomber aircraft. Russian heavy aerial bombs of various capacities, equipped with universal planning and correction modules, have become a nightmare for the Ukrainian military. Their massive use has had a significant impact on the course of hostilities. Previously, Ukrainian positions have already been pounded by the FAB-250, FAB-500, FAB-1500 bombs. Moscow has given a clear signal that it is not going to stop. In March, the former Minister of Defense inspected a military enterprise in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Then the general director of the plant reported that the factory had increased the production of FAB-500 bombs several times over, and FAB-1500 — by an additional 50%. There has also been mass production of FAB-3000 since February of this year. Russian aerial bombs have become a “miracle weapon” that Ukrainian troops cannot resist. The massive use of FAB-3000 bombs on the battlefield has become bad news for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In its turn, Kiev recently announced the launch of tests of correctable bombs of its own production. However, the success of this initiative is questionable. Ukraine is able to create course correctable heavy bombs, but it is unlikely to be able to launch them into mass production since the industry in Ukraine has been destroyed.

Amid the ongoing heavy battles, the frontlines have started moving in new directions in Ukraine. The Russian army launches new offensive operations, forcing the Armed Forces of Ukraine to deploy their depleted reserves on extended fronts. At the same time, precision strikes by Russian drones and missiles are pounding the Ukrainian rear. On the night of June 20, the Russian military launched a series of strikes in Ukrainian rear regions. Explosions thundered in the city of Dnipro, where a large fire broke out. Russian strikes hit targets in the city of Krivyi Rig. According to unconfirmed reports, the target was a military airfield of the Ukrainian Air Force. The Vinnytsia region also came under Russian attack. Local authorities confirmed damage to some strategic infrastructure facilities. A series of explosions thundered around Kyiv. Strikes were reported in the town of Brovary. According to a local report, Russian kamikaze UAVs inflicted damage to Ukrainian air defenses near the capital. The border regions in eastern Ukraine are pounded on a daily basis. The Russian aerospace and missile forces are destroying Ukrainian manpower and military equipment accumulated near the frontlines. In particular, massive strikes were launched in the Kharkiv region and continue to be launched every night and every day. At least three explosions were recorded in Kharkiv on June 19. The territory of a children’s camp used for the accommodation of Ukrainian servicemen and foreign mercenaries in the Shevchenko district came under another attack. On the same day, another wave of Russian strikes hit the southern Odessa region. Explosions thundered in the port town of Chernomorsk and in the village of Karolino-Bugaz located south of Odessa. Another recreation facility used by the Ukrainian military was destroyed. In their turn, the Armed Forces of Ukraine attempted to reach Russian rear facilities with their kamikaze drones. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 15 Ukrainian UAVs were destroyed in six Russian regions. As a result of the massive drone attack, a fire broke out at an oil depot in Adygea. Another target was the Afipsky oil refinery but the drone did not reach it. A civilian woman was killed after a UAV fell on her house. Meanwhile, the Russian army launched an offensive in a new direction on the Donbass frontlines. After a prolonged pause, the Russian military advanced towards the town of Toretsk located on the border of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. The front has been almost unchanged there since 2014. The attacks caught the Ukrainian forces by surprise when they began a rotation of military personnel in the area. The Ukrainian military is forced to admit the loss of a number of important strongholds near Pivnichne. Over the past day alone, the Russian army expanded its zone of control by about 1.5 kilometers in the area.

Colleagues, good afternoon. I am pleased to welcome all of you and express my gratitude for your active work in the interests of Russia and our people. We last met in this extended format in November 2021, and since then, there have been many pivotal and even fateful events, without exaggeration, both in Russia and around the world. Therefore, I think it is important to assess the current situation in global and regional affairs, as well as set the appropriate tasks for the Foreign Ministry. All of these tasks are aimed at achieving our main goal: creating conditions for Russia’s sustainable development, ensuring its security, and improving the well-being of Russian families. In today’s challenging and unpredictable conditions, our work in this area demands that we concentrate our efforts, initiative, perseverance, and abilities not only to respond to current challenges, but also to set our own long-term agenda. We should propose possible solutions to fundamental issues that concern not only us, but also the entire international community. It is crucial to discuss them with our partners in an open and constructive manner. Let me repeat: the world is changing rapidly. Global politics, the economy, and technological competition will never be the same as before. More countries are striving to strengthen their sovereignty, self-sufficiency, and national and cultural identity. The countries of the Global South and East are gaining prominence, and the role of Africa and Latin America is growing. Since the Soviet times, we have always acknowledged the importance of these regions, but today the dynamics have completely shifted, and this is becoming increasingly evident. The pace of transformation in Eurasia, where many significant integration projects are underway, has also accelerated significantly. This new political and economic reality now serves as the foundation for the emerging multipolar and multilateral world order, and this is an inevitable process. It reflects the cultural and civilisational diversity that is inherently part of humanity, despite all attempts at artificial unification. These profound, system-wide changes certainly inspire optimism and hope because the establishment of multipolarity and multilateralism in international affairs, including respect for international law and broad representation, make it possible to resolve the most complex problems together for the common benefit, and to build mutually beneficial relations and cooperation between sovereign states for the sake of well-being and security of peoples. Such a vision for the future aligns with the aspirations of the vast majority of countries. This is evident, among other things, in the growing interest in the work of a universal association such as BRICS, which is based on a culture of trust-based dialogue, sovereign equality of its members and respect for each other. Under the Russian chairmanship this year, we will facilitate the smooth inclusion of new BRICS members in the association’s working bodies. I ask the Government and the Foreign Ministry to continue substantive work and dialogue with our partners to make sure that the BRICS summit in Kazan in October will have a considerable set of agreed decisions that will determine the direction of our cooperation in politics and security, the economy and finance, science, culture, sports and humanitarian ties. In general, I believe that the potential of BRICS will allow it to become one of the core regulatory institutions of the multipolar world order. I should note in this connection that international discussions are already underway regarding the parameters of interaction between states in a multipolar world and the democratisation of the entire system of international relations. In this regard, we have agreed on and adopted, together with our colleagues in the Commonwealth of Independent States, a joint document on international relations in a multipolar world. We have also invited our partners to discuss this subject at other international platforms, primarily in the SCO and BRICS. We are interested in fostering this dialogue within the UN, including on such a vital topic for all as the creation of an indivisible security system. In other words, global affairs must be based on the principle that the security of some cannot be ensured at the expense of the security of others. Let me remind you that at the end of the 20th century, after the end of the intense military and ideological confrontation, the international community had a unique opportunity to build a reliable and just security order. This did not require much – simply the ability to listen to the opinions of all interested parties and a mutual willingness to take those opinions into account. Our country was determined to engage in constructive work of this nature. However, a different approach prevailed. The Western powers, led by the United States, believed that they had won the Cold War and had the right to determine how the world should be organised. The practical manifestation of this outlook was the project of unlimited expansion of the North Atlantic bloc in space and time, despite the existence of alternative ideas for ensuring security in Europe. They responded to our justified questions with excuses, claiming that there were no plans to attack Russia, and that the expansion of NATO was not directed against Russia. They effectively forgot about the promises made to the Soviet Union and later Russia in the late 1980s and early 1990s that the bloc would not accept new members. Even if they acknowledged those promises, they would grin and dismiss them as mere verbal assurances that were not legally binding. In the 1990s and later, we consistently pointed out the flawed approach taken by Western elites. Instead of simply criticising and warning them, we suggested options and constructive solutions, emphasising the need to develop a mechanism of European and global security that would be acceptable to all parties involved (I want to underscore this point). It would take too long to list all the initiatives advanced by Russia over the years. Let us recall the idea of a European security treaty, which we proposed in 2008. In December 2021, a memorandum from the Russian Foreign Ministry was submitted to the United States and NATO, addressing the same issues. However, all our repeated attempts (it is impossible to list them all) to convince our partners, as well as our explanations, appeals, warnings and requests, met with no response. Western countries, confident not so much in the righteousness of their cause as in their power and ability to impose whatever they wish on the rest of the world, simply disregarded other perspectives. At best, they proposed discussions on less significant matters (that did little to resolve the actual problems), or matters that only benefitted the West. It soon became clear that the Western concept, seen as the only viable option for security and prosperity in Europe and the world, was, in fact, ineffective. Let us recall the tragedy in the Balkans. While domestic issues had certainly contributed to the problems in former Yugoslavia, they were greatly exacerbated by intrusive external interference. At that time, the main principle of NATO diplomacy manifested itself most vividly – a deeply flawed principle that is of no use in addressing complex internal conflicts. In essence, this principle aims to assign blame to one party (often disliked by the West for various reasons) and unleash the full political, informational and military might of the West, including economic sanctions and restrictions against it. Later, these same approaches were applied in various countries, which we know all too well: Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Afghanistan. These interventions have done nothing but worsen existing problems, ruin the lives of millions of people, destroy entire states, and create hubs of humanitarian and social disasters, as well as terrorist enclaves. In fact, no country in the world is immune from joining this tragic list. For example, the West is currently trying to brazenly meddle in the affairs of the Middle East. They previously held a monopoly over this region, and the consequences of their actions are now evident to everyone. The South Caucasus and Central Asia are also prime examples. Two years ago, at the NATO summit in Madrid, it was declared that the alliance would now deal with security issues not only in the Euro-Atlantic, but also in the Asia-Pacific region. They claim those areas can not do without them. Clearly, this was an attempt to exert more pressure on those countries in the region whose development they have decided to restrain. As you know, Russia ranks high on this list. Let me also remind you that it was Washington that undermined strategic stability by unilaterally withdrawing from the treaties on anti-missile defence, on the elimination of intermediate- and shorter-range missiles and on open skies, and, together with its NATO satellites, dismantling the decades-old system of confidence-building measures and arms control in Europe. Lastly, the self-centeredness and arrogance of Western countries have led us to a highly perilous situation today. We are inching dangerously close to a point of no return. Calls for a strategic defeat of Russia, which possesses the largest arsenals of nuclear weapons, demonstrate the extreme recklessness of Western politicians. They either fail to comprehend the magnitude of the threat they are creating or are simply consumed by their notion of invincibility and exceptionalism. Both scenarios can result in tragedy. It is evident that the entire system of Euro-Atlantic security is crumbling before our eyes. At present, it is practically non-existent and must be rebuilt. To achieve this, we must collaborate with interested countries, of which there are many, to develop our own strategies for ensuring security in Eurasia and then present them for broader international deliberation. This is the task set in the Address to the Federal Assembly: to outline a vision for equal and indivisible security, mutually beneficial and equitable cooperation, and development on the Eurasian continent in the foreseeable future. What needs to be done to achieve this and on what principles? First, it is important to establish dialogue with all potential participants in this future security system. I would like to ask you to address the necessary issues with countries that are open to constructive interaction with Russia. During my recent visit to China, President Xi Jinping and I discussed this issue. It was noted that the Russian proposal is not contradictory, but rather complements and aligns with the basic principles of the Chinese global security initiative. Second, it is crucial to recognise that the future security architecture should be open to all Eurasian countries that wish to participate in its creation. ”For all“ includes European and NATO countries as well. We share the same continent, and we must live and work together regardless of the circumstances. Geography cannot be changed. Yes, Russia’s relations with the EU and many European countries have deteriorated, and it is important to emphasise that we are not to blame for that. The anti-Russia propaganda campaign, involving senior European politicians, is accompanied by speculation that Russia intends to attack Europe. I have addressed this issue before, and there is no need to repeat it again here. We all understand that these claims are baseless and serve only to justify an arms race. In this context, I would like to make a brief digression. The threat to Europe does not come from Russia. The main threat to Europeans is their critical and increasing dependence on the United States in military, political, technological, ideological, and informational aspects. Europe is being marginalised in global economic development, plunged into the chaos of challenges such as migration, and losing international agency and cultural identity. Sometimes, I get the impression that European politicians and representatives of the European bureaucracy are more afraid of falling out of favour with Washington than losing the trust of their own people. The recent election to the European Parliament has also demonstrated this. European politicians tolerate humiliation, rudeness, and scandals, such as surveillance of European leaders, while the United States simply exploits them for its own benefit. For instance, they are forced to purchase expensive gas, which costs three to four times more in Europe than in the United States. Additionally, European countries are pressured to increase arms supplies to Ukraine. The demands are constant, and sanctions are readily imposed on European economic operators without any hesitation. They are now pressuring their partners to supply Ukraine with more weapons and increase their capacity for manufacturing artillery shells. Who will need these shells once the conflict in Ukraine ends? How does this ensure European military security? It is difficult to understand. The United States is investing in military technologies, particularly advanced future technologies such as space exploration, modern drones and strike systems based on new physical principles. The United States is funding areas that will shape the nature of future armed conflicts, as well as the military and political power of nations and their standing in the world. These countries are expected to invest in areas of interest to the United States. However, this does not expand European potential. Let them do as they wish. We will probably benefit from it, but, in effect, that is the situation. If Europe wants to continue being an independent centre of global development and a cultural and civilisational pole on our planet, it should definitely maintain good and friendly relations with Russia. Most importantly, we are ready for this. Indeed, politicians of truly European and global scale, who are patriots of their countries and nations, understand this simple and obvious fact. They think in terms of historical categories and are not mere followers of someone else’s will and influence. Charles de Gaulle spoke about this during the post-war period. I vividly recall participating in a conversation in 1991 where German Chancellor Helmut Kohl emphasised the importance of partnership between Europe and Russia. I hope that new generations of European politicians will eventually restore this legacy. Speaking of the United States, the never-ending attempts by the current globalist liberal elites to spread their ideology worldwide, to maintain their imperial status and dominance in one way or another, are only further exhausting the country, leading to its degradation, and clearly contrary to the genuine interests of the American people. If it were not for this dead-end policy, driven by aggressive messianism based on the belief in their own superiority and exceptionalism, international relations would have long been stabilised. Third, it is necessary to significantly intensify the dialogue process between multilateral organisations already operating in Eurasia to promote the idea of a Eurasian security system, above all such organisations as the Union State, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. We consider it possible that other influential Eurasian associations from Southeast Asia to the Middle East will join these processes in the future. Fourth, we believe that the time has come to start a broad discussion of a new system of bilateral and multilateral guarantees of collective security in Eurasia. At the same time, it is necessary, in the long term, to gradually phase out the military presence of external powers in the Eurasian region. Of course, we are aware that in the current situation this point may seem unrealistic, but that will change. However, if we build a reliable security system in the future, there will simply be no need for such a presence of out-of-region military contingents. To be honest, there no need today either – just occupation and that’s all. In the final analysis we believe that countries and regional structures in Eurasia should themselves identify specific areas of cooperation in joint security. Guided by this, they must also build a system of working institutions, mechanisms, and agreements that would really serve to achieve common stability and development goals. In this sense, we support our Belarusian friends’ initiative to develop a programme document – a charter of multipolarity and diversity in the 21st century. It can formulate not only the framework principles of Eurasian architecture based on the essential norms of international law, but also, a strategic vision of the nature of multipolarity in a broader sense and multilateralism as a new system of international relations which would replace the Western-centric world. I consider it important and would like to ask you to thoroughly work out on this document with our partners and with all interested states. I will add that when discussing such complicated and comprehensive issues, we need as broad representation as possible and a consideration of different approaches and positions. Fifth, an crucial part of the Eurasian security and development system should definitely be the issues of the economy, social well-being, integration, and mutually beneficial cooperation, as well as addressing such common problems as overcoming poverty, inequality, the climate, the environment, and developing mechanisms to respond to the threats of pandemics and crises in the global economy. All that is important. The West not only undermined the world’s military-political stability by its actions. It has compromised and weakened the key market institutions by its sanctions and trade wars. Using the IMF and the World Bank and twisting the climate agenda, it has been restraining the development of the Global South. Yielding in competition, even by the rules that the West has written for itself, it applies prohibitive barriers and all kinds of protectionism. Thus the United States has abandoned the World Trade Organisation as an international trade regulator. Everything is blocked. Meanwhile, the pressure is exerted not only on competitors, but on their own satellites. Suffice it to see how they are now “siphoning off the juices” from the European economies which are teetering on the brink of recession. Western countries have frozen some of Russia’s assets and currency reserves. Now they are trying to invent some legal justification for their irreversible appropriation. On the other hand, however, despite all the crooked lawyerism, theft will obviously remain theft and will not go unpunished. The issue is even deeper. By stealing Russian assets, they will take one more step towards destroying the system that they created themselves and that for many decades ensured their prosperity, allowed them to consume more than they earn, and attracted money from all over the world through debts and liabilities. Now it is becoming clear to all countries, companies and sovereign wealth funds that their assets and reserves are far from safe, both legally and economically. And anyone could be the next in line for expropriation by the United States and the West, those foreign sovereign wealth funds could also be the one. There is already a growing distrust of the financial system based on Western reserve currencies. There has appeared a certain outflow of funds from securities and bonds of Western countries, as well as from some European banks, which were until fairly recently considered to be absolutely reliable to put capital in. Now gold is also being taken out gold from those banks. And this is the right thing to do. I believe that we need to seriously intensify the formation of effective and safe bilateral and multilateral foreign economic mechanisms as alternatives to those controlled by the West. This includes the expansion of settlements in national currencies, the creation of independent payment systems and the building of value chains that bypass the channels blocked or compromised by the West. Naturally, it is necessary to continue efforts to develop international transport corridors in Eurasia, the continent with Russia as its natural geographical core. Through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I instruct you to assist as much as possible in developing international agreements in all these areas. They are extremely important for strengthening economic cooperation between our country and our partners. This should also give a new impetus to building a large Eurasian partnership, which, in essence, may become a socioeconomic basis for a new indivisible security system in Europe. Colleagues, Our proposals aim to establish a system where all nations can feel secure. With such a framework, we could approach today’s numerous conflicts in a different way, and more constructively. The issues of insecurity and mutual distrust are not limited to the Eurasian continent; rising tensions are evident worldwide. The interconnection and interdependence of our world are constantly apparent, with the Ukrainian crisis serving as a tragic example with its repercussions spreading across the globe. I want to clarify right away: the crisis involving Ukraine is not a conflict between two states or peoples stemming from issues between them. If that were the case, there is no doubt that Russians and Ukrainians, united by a shared history and culture, spiritual values, and millions of familial and human connections, would have found a fair resolution to any disputes and disagreements. Meanwhile, the situation is different as the roots of the conflict are not in bilateral relations. The events in Ukraine are a direct result of global and European developments from the late 20th and early 21st centuries. They stem from the aggressive, unrestrained, and utterly reckless policy that the West has been pursuing for many years, long before the special military operation began. The elites of Western countries, as I mentioned earlier today, set a course for further geopolitical restructuring of the world after the end of the Cold War. They aimed to establish and enforce the so-called rules-based order, where strong, sovereign, and self-sufficient states simply do not belong. This explains the policy of containment directed against our country. Some figures in the United States and Europe openly declare the goals of this policy, speaking today about the so-called decolonisation of Russia. Essentially, this is an attempt to ideologically justify the division of our Fatherland along ethnic lines. The dismemberment of the Soviet Union and Russia has been a discussion topic for a long time, as everyone in this room is well aware. In pursuing this strategy, Western countries aimed to absorb and militarily and politically develop territories near us. There have been five, now six, waves of NATO expansion. They sought to transform Ukraine into their stronghold, an “anti-Russia.” To achieve these objectives, they invested money and resources, bought politicians and entire parties, rewrote history and educational programmes, and nurtured groups of neo-Nazis and radicals. They did everything possible to undermine our inter-state ties, divide us, and turn our peoples against each other. They would have pursued that policy even more brazenly and unceremoniously, had it not been for southeastern Ukraine, the region that had been part of historical Greater Russia for centuries, which was in their way. The people who lived there, and still do, continued to advocate better and closer ties with our country, including when Ukraine declared independence in 1991. Ethnic Russians and Ukrainians, as well as representatives of other ethnic groups, they were united by the Russian language, culture, traditions, and historical memory. Ukrainian presidents and presidential hopefuls simply had to reckon with the opinion, moods, and interests of those people – the millions of people living in the southeast. Ukrainian politicians needed their votes. However, having used their support when running for high posts, they later maneuvered out of doing what they promised, got out of it, lied, and cited the so-called European choice. They did not dare sever all ties with Russia though, because southeastern Ukraine had a different view, and one that was to be reckoned with. This duality has always been present in the Ukrainian government’s policies, ever since the recognition of independence. The West saw that, of course. Western politicians have long been aware of the problems in Ukraine that could be raked up; they also realised the importance of the southeast as a restraining factor, and knew that even years of propaganda could not radically change that. Not that they were not trying; but it was really difficult to reverse the situation. Try as they might, there was not a chance they could distort the historical identity and consciousness of the majority of people in southeastern Ukraine, to eradicate good feelings for Russia and the sense of our historical community, even from the younger generations. And they decided to use force again, to go and break the people in the southeast, as if they didn’t matter. To do this, they masterminded, organised and financed an armed coup, clearly taking advantage of the difficulties and political infighting in Ukraine. They prepared it purposefully and consistently. A massive wave of riots, violence, and murders swept thorough Ukrainian cities. Finally, radical nationalists seized and usurped power in Kiev. Their aggressive nationalist slogans, including the rehabilitation of Nazi henchmen, were proclaimed at a level of state ideology. They inaugurated a policy of abolishing the Russian language in all aspects of government and society, and stepped up pressure on Orthodox believers and interference in church affairs, which eventually led to a schism. No one seemed to notice that interference, like it was no big deal. Try something like this elsewhere, everyone will go so ballistic you will regret it. But over there, this is allowed, because it is against Russia. As is well-known, millions of people residing in Ukraine, primarily in its eastern regions, made a stand against the coup. They began to be threatened with violence and terror. In the first place, the new authorities in Kiev started preparing an attack on the Russian-speaking Crimea, which, as you may know, was transferred from the RSFSR to Ukraine in 1954 with the violation of all norms of the law and procedures, even those in effect in the Soviet Union at that time. In this situation, we certainly could not abandon and leave without protection the people of Crimea and Sevastopol. They made their choice and, as is common knowledge, the historic unification of Crimea and Sevastopol with Russia took place in March 2014. The peaceful protests against the coup in Kharkov, Kherson, Odessa, Zaporozhye, Donetsk, Lugansk and Mariupol were suppressed, with the Kiev regime and nationalist groups unleashing the reign of terror. There is no need to recall all this, for everyone is well aware of what was happening in those regions. In May 2014, referendums were held on the status of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, at which the overwhelming majority of local people voted for independence and sovereignty. This bids the following question: сould people generally express their will in this way and declare their independence? People present in this room know that they certainly could and had the full right and reason to do that under international law, including the right of people to self-determination. There is no need to remind this to you, of course, but since the media are at work, I will say that Article 1, paragraph 2, of the UN Charter extends this right. Let me recall in this connection the notorious Kosovo precedent. We spoke many times about this in the past, but I will say it once again now. The precedent that the Western countries created themselves in an absolutely identical situation: they recognised Kosovo’s secession from Serbia in 2008 as legitimate. Later, the International Court of Justice issued its well-known Advisory Opinion. Based on Article 1, paragraph 2, of the UN Charter, it ruled on 22 July 2010 that, I quote: “No general prohibition against unilateral declarations of independence may be inferred from the practice of the Security Council.” Next quote: “General international law contains no applicable prohibition of declarations of independence.” More than that, it said that the parts of any country, which decided to declare their independence, were not obliged to apply to the central organs of their former state. They wrote all this with their own hand in black and white. So, did the Donetsk and Lugansk republics have the right to declare their independence? Of course, they did! This issue even cannot be considered in a different way. But what did the Kiev regime do in this situation? It fully disregarded people’s choice and unleashed a full-scale war against the new independent states, the people’s republics of Donbass, with the use of aircraft, artillery and tanks. They launched bombing and artillery attacks on peaceful cities and resorted to intimidation. So, what happened next? The people of Donbass took up arms to protect their lives, their homes, their rights and legitimate interests. In the West, the prevailing narrative is that Russia initiated the war with its special military operation and is therefore the aggressor, so it is allowed to attack the Russian territory using Western weaponry. It is argued that Ukraine is merely defending itself, and is justified in doing so. I want to reiterate: Russia did not start the war. It was the Kiev regime that initiated hostilities, following the declaration of independence by residents of certain parts of Ukraine in accordance with international law, and continues to do so. If we do not recognise the right of these peoples to declare their independence, then this is indeed aggression. Those who have supported the Kiev regime’s war machine over the years are, therefore, accomplices to this aggression. Back in 2014, the residents of Donbass refused to surrender. Militia units stood their ground, repelled the punitive forces, and eventually pushed them back from Donetsk and Lugansk. We hoped this would bring those who initiated the violence to their senses. To halt the bloodshed, Russia made its customary appeals for negotiations. Talks began, involving Kiev and representatives of the Donbass republics, with the support of Russia, Germany, and France. The talks were not easy, but ultimately led to the conclusion of the Minsk Agreements in 2015. We took their implementation very seriously, hoping to resolve the situation within the framework of the peace process and international law. There was hope that this would lead to the recognition of the legitimate interests and demands of Donbass, including enshrining the special status of these regions and ensuring the fundamental rights of the people living there, all while maintaining Ukraine’s territorial integrity. We were prepared for this and sought to persuade the residents of these territories to resolve issues through such means. We proposed various compromises and solutions multiple times. However, Kiev ultimately rejected everything and simply discarded the Minsk Agreements. As representatives of the Ukrainian elite later confessed, none of the articles in these documents satisfied them; they simply lied and evaded as much as possible. The former Chancellor of Germany and the former President of France, who were essentially co-authors and purported guarantors of the Minsk Agreements, later openly admitted that the implementation was never their intention. Instead, they claimed it was a tactic to stall while they bolstered Ukrainian armed groups, supplied weapons and equipment. It was another instance of them playing a trick on us and deceiving us once again. Instead of fostering a genuine peace process and pursuing policies of reintegration and national reconciliation, as Kiev often claimed, Donbass endured eight years of relentless shelling, terrorist attacks, murders, and severe blockade. Throughout these years, the residents of Donbass – women, children, and the elderly – were dehumanised, labelled as “second-class” or “subhuman,” and threatened with retaliation, with promises of settling scores with everyone. What else can this be if not genocide in the heart of Europe in the 21st century? Meanwhile, in Europe and the US they pretended that nothing was happening and nobody was noticing anything. In late 2021 and early 2022, the Minsk process was finally buried by Kiev and its Western handlers. Another large-scale attack was planned on Donbass. A large group of the Ukrainian armed forces was preparing to start a new offensive against Lugansk and Donetsk, which obviously entailed ethnic cleansing campaigns, numerous casualties and hundreds of thousands of refugees. We were obliged to prevent that catastrophe and to protect the people. We saw no other solution. Russia recognised the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics. We did not do that in the previous eight years, hoping to come to an agreement [with Kiev]. You know the result. On February 21, 2022, we signed treaties of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance with the republics we recognised. Did these people’s republics have a right to ask us for help if we recognised their independence? Did we have a right to recognise their independence, and did they have a right to proclaim their sovereignty in accordance with the articles and decisions of the UN International Court of Justice I have mentioned? Did they have a right to independence? They did. If they had this right and exercised it, then we had a right to sign a treaty with them, which we did, as I have said, in full compliance with international law and Article 51 of the UN Charter. At the same time, we called on the Kiev authorities to withdraw their troops from Donbass. I can tell you that we contacted them and told them that they should pull their troops out, and that would be the end of it. They rejected our proposal almost immediately; they simply ignored it, even though it was an opportunity to settle the problem peacefully. On February 24, 2022, Russia had to announce the start of the special military operation. I addressed the citizens of Russia, the people of the Donetsk and Lugansk republics and Ukrainian society, outlining the goals of that operation – the protection of people in Donbass, the restoration of peace, and the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine. We did that to avert the threat to our state and to restore balance in the sphere of security in Europe. At the same time, we continued to believe that our priority was to attain the above goals by political and diplomatic means. I would like to remind you that at the first stage of the special military operation we agreed to hold negotiations with representatives of the Kiev regime. They were first held in Belarus and then moved to Türkiye. The message we tried to get across was that they should respect the choice made by Donbass, withdraw their troops and stop shelling peaceful cities and towns. This was all we asked for, saying that everything else could be decided later. But their reply was, No, we will fight. It was clearly the order that came from their Western masters. I will speak about this now. As you know, in February and March 2022 our troops approached Kiev. There are many speculations both in Ukraine and in the West about this. What do I want to say about this? Our units were indeed deployed near Kiev, and the military departments and the security bloc had different proposals on our possible further actions, but there was no political decision to storm the city with three million people, no matter what anyone said or speculated. In fact, it was nothing else but an operation to coerce the Ukrainian regime into peace. The troops were there in order to push the Ukrainian side to negotiations, try to find acceptable solutions and thereby end the war Kiev had started against Donbass back in 2014, and resolve issues that pose a threat to the security of Russia. Surprisingly, as a result, agreements that satisfied both Moscow and Kiev were indeed reached. These agreements were put on paper and initialled in Istanbul by the head of the Ukrainian negotiating delegation. This means that this solution was suitable for the Kiev authorities. The document was titled “Agreement on Permanent Neutrality and Security Guarantees for Ukraine.” It was a compromise, but its key points were in line with our fundamental demands and resolved the problems that were stated as major ones even at the start of the special military operation. Let me also note that this included demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine. And we also managed to find challenging outcomes. They were complicated but they had been found. It was meant that a law would be adopted in Ukraine banning Nazi ideology and any of its manifestations. All of that was written there. In addition, in exchange for international security guarantees, Ukraine would have limited the size of its armed forces, undertaken obligations not to join military alliances, not to host foreign military bases, not to station them and contingents, and not to conduct military exercises on its territory. Everything was written on paper. Russia, which also understood Ukraine’s security concerns, agreed that Ukraine would receive guarantees similar to those that NATO members enjoy without formally joining the alliance. It was a difficult decision for us, but we recognised the legitimacy of Ukraine’s demands to ensure its security and did not object to the wording proposed by Kiev. This was the wording proposed by Kiev, and we generally did not have any objections, understanding that the main thing was to cease the bloodshed and war in Donbass. On March 29, 2022, we withdrew our troops from Kiev because we were assured that conditions must be created to complete the political negotiation process, and that one of the parties cannot sign such agreements, as our Western colleagues said, with a gun to their head. Okay, we agreed to that, too. However, the very next day after the Russian troops were withdrawn from Kiev, the Ukrainian leadership suspended its participation in the negotiations staging the infamous provocation in Bucha, and rejected the prepared version of the agreements. I think today it is clear why that ugly provocation was necessary: to explain why the results that had been achieved during the negotiations were rejected. The path to peace was rejected again. As we know now, it was done on orders from Western curators, including the former UK Prime Minister who said directly during his visit to Kiev – no agreements; Russia must be defeated on the battlefield to achieve its strategic defeat. Thus they began to intensively pump Ukraine up with weapons and started talking about the need to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, as I have just mentioned. Some time later, as everyone knows, the President of Ukraine issued an executive order banning his representatives and himself from conducting any negotiations with Moscow. This episode with our attempt to solve the problem through peaceful means came to nothing again. As for negotiations, now I would like to make public another episode. I haven’t spoken about this publicly either but some of those present here know about it. After the Russian army seized part of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, many Western politicians offered their mediation in a peaceful settlement of the conflict. One of them was on a working visit to Moscow on March 5, 2022. We accepted his mediation efforts, especially since he said during the conversation that he had secured the support of the leaders of Germany and France, as well as high-ranking US representatives. In course of our conversation our foreign guest wondered – an interesting moment – saying if you are assisting Donbass, then why Russian troops are in the south of Ukraine, including in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions? We responded to the effect that it was our General Staff ‘s decision on planning the operation. And I will add today that the idea was to bypass some fortified areas built in Donbass over the eight years by Ukrainian authorities, primarily for liberating Mariupol. Then our foreign colleague specified – a professional man, to be fair to him: are Russian troops going to stay in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions? And what will happen to these regions after the Special Military Operation has attained its goals? I answered to this that in general I do not rule out preservation of the Ukrainian sovereignty over these territories, provided Russia has a stable land bridge to Crimea. It means that Kiev should guarantee servitude, as they call it, a legally formalised right of access for Russia to the Crimean Peninsula via Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. This is a critical political decision. And, of course, in its final version, it would not be adopted unilaterally but only after consultations with the Security Council, with other institutions, of course, after discussion with citizens, the public of our country and, above all, with residents of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. In the end, that is what we did: we asked the opinion of the people themselves and held referendums. And we did what the people decided, including in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, in the Donetsk and Lugansk peoples’ republics. At that time, in March 2022, our negotiating partner said that he was going to head to Kiev to continue the conversation with his colleagues in the Ukrainian capital. We welcomed this, in general, as attempts to find a peaceful settlement to the conflict, because every day of fighting meant new casualties and losses. However, the services of the Western mediator were not accepted in Ukraine, as we later learnt, and on the contrary, as we became aware, they accused him of taking pro-Russian positions in a rather harsh form, it has to be mentioned, but that is a small thing. Now, as I have already said, the situation has fundamentally changed. The residents of Kherson and Zaporozhye have expressed their position in referendums, and Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, as well as the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, have become part of the Russian Federation. And there can be no talk of disturbing our state unity. The people’s will to be with Russia shall be inviolable. This matter is closed forever and is no longer a matter for discussion. Once again, it was the West that premeditated and provoked the Ukraine crisis; it is the West that is trying its best now to extend this crisis indefinitely, to weaken and mutually embitter the people of Russia and Ukraine. They keep sending in more batches of arms and ammunition. Certain European politicians have been recently toying with the possibility of deploying their regular troops in Ukraine. At the same time, as I already noted, these puppeteers, the true rulers of Ukraine – unfortunately, these are not the people of Ukraine, but the globalist elites from overseas – are now trying to shift the burden of unpopular decisions to the Ukrainian executive authorities, including the decision to further lower the conscription age. As you know, the draft-eligible age for Ukrainian men was recently lowered to 25; they may well lower it to 23 next time, and then to 20, or go all the way down to 18. The next thing you know, they will get rid of the officials who made these unpopular decisions under pressure from the West, just discard them as if they were expendable, blaming it entirely on them, and replace them with other officials, also dependent on the West, but with clearer reputations – yet. Hence, perhaps, the idea of cancelling the next presidential election in Ukraine. They will let the incumbent team do it before throwing that team in the trash, and will continue doing whatever they think is right. In this regard, I would like to remind you of something Kiev prefers to forget, and the West keeps silent about as well. What is it? In May 2014, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine ruled that, quote – “The president is elected for a term of five years, no matter whether the election is regular or early.” Furthermore, the Constitutional Court noted that “the president’s constitutional status implies no norms setting any other office term than that of five years” – end of quote, period. The court’s decision was final, not subject to appeal. That was it. What does this mean in relation to today’s situation? The presidential term of the previously elected head of Ukraine has expired along with his legitimacy, which cannot be reinstated by any tricks. I will not go into detail about the background of the Ukrainian Constitutional Court’s ruling on the presidential term. It is clear that it was made amid attempts to legitimise the 2014 coup. Nonetheless, the verdict was passed, and this is a legal fact, which makes any attempt to justify today’s pantomime of cancelling the election untenable. In fact, as I said earlier, the current tragic chapter in Ukraine’s history began with a power grab, an anti-constitutional coup in 2014. To reiterate, an armed putsch lies at the origin of the current Kiev regime. Now, the circle has closed. Just like in 2014, the executive power in Ukraine has been usurped and is held illegally. In fact, we are dealing with an illegitimate government. I will say more: cancelling elections reflects the very nature, the innards of the current Kiev regime, which grew out of the armed coup of 2014, is tied to it and has its roots there. The fact that, having canceled the elections, they continue to cling to power is something that is expressly prohibited by Article 5 of the Constitution of Ukraine. To quote, “The right to determine and change the constitutional order in Ukraine belongs exclusively to the people and shall not be usurped by the State, its bodies or officials.” In addition, such actions fall under Article 109 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which precisely refers to the forcible change or overthrow of the constitutional order or seizure of state power, as well as conspiracy to commit such actions. In 2014, such usurpation was justified by the revolution, and now by hostilities, but it does not change the actual state of affairs. In fact, we are talking about collusion between the executive branch of the Ukrainian government, the leadership of the Verkhovnaya Rada and the parliamentary majority that it controls. This collusion is aimed at usurping the state power (this is the only way to describe it), which is a criminal offence under Ukrainian law. Next, the Constitution of Ukraine does not provide for the possibility of canceling or postponing the election of the President of the country, or the continuation of his powers in connection with martial law, which they are now referring to. What does the Ukrainian fundamental law say? It says that the elections to the Verkhovnaya Rada can be postponed during the martial law. Article 83 of the Ukrainian Constitution says that. So, the Ukrainian legislation has provided the only exception when the powers of a public authority are extended for the period of martial law, and elections are not held. This applies exclusively to the Verkhovnaya Rada. This designates the status of the Parliament of Ukraine as a permanent body under martial law. In other words, unlike the executive branch, the Verkhovnaya Rada is a legitimate body now. Ukraine is not a presidential republic, but a parliamentary and presidential republic. This is the point. Moreover, by virtue of articles 106 and 112, the Chairman of the Verkhovnaya Rada, acting as President, is vested with special powers, including in the sphere of defence, security, and supreme command of the armed forces. Everything is spelled out there in black and white. By the way, in the first half of this year, Ukraine signed a series of bilateral agreements with several European states regarding cooperation in security and long-term support. A similar document has been signed with the United States as well. Since May 21, 2024, questions naturally arise regarding the authority and legitimacy of the Ukrainian representatives who are signing such documents. It does not matter to us; let them sign whatever they want. Clearly, there is a political and propaganda angle at play here. The United States and its satellites seem eager to support their allies, enhancing their credibility and standing. And yet, if a serious legal examination of such an agreement is later conducted in the US (not regarding the content, but the legal framework), questions will undoubtedly arise about who signed these documents and with what authority. It might turn out to be all bluster, rendering the agreement void, and the entire structure could collapse, provided there is a willingness to analyse the situation. One can pretend everything is normal, but the reality is far from it, I have read it. It is all documented, laid out in the Constitution. Let me also remind you that following the commencement of the special military operation, the West initiated a vigorous and quite undiplomatic campaign aimed at isolating Russia on the global stage. It is now evident to everyone that this attempt has failed. However, the West has not abandoned its goal of forming an international coalition of sorts against Russia and maintaining a facade of pressure on our country. We are fully aware of this strategy as well. As you may be aware, there has been active promotion of the initiative to convene the so-called high-levelinternational conference in Switzerland on peace in Ukraine. Moreover, they intend to hold it shortly after the G7 summit, that is those those who essentially fuelled the conflict in Ukraine through their policies. The organisers of the meeting in Switzerland are proposing yet another manoeuvre to divert attention, distort the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis, misdirect the discussion, and to some extent, reaffirm the legitimacy of the current executive power in Ukraine. Hence, it is expected that the conference in Switzerland will avoid addressing the fundamental issues underlying the current crisis in international security and stability, including the true roots of the Ukrainian conflict. Despite efforts to present a seemingly respectable agenda, these critical matters are unlikely to be discussed. We can expect that everything will boil down to general demagogic speeches and a new set of accusations against Russia. The idea is easy to read: bring in as many states as possible by any means possible and present the matter as if Western recipes and rules are shared by the entire international community as a result, which means Russia must unconditionally accept them. As you know, we were naturally not invited to the meeting in Switzerland. After all, these are not negotiations, but a desire of a group of countries to keep pushing their policy and resolve issues that directly affect our interests and security as they see fit. In this regard, I would like to stress that it is impossible to reach a peaceful solution to the Ukraine crisis and to overall European security without Russia’s participation, without an honest and responsible dialogue with us. Right now, the West ignores our interests, while prohibiting Kiev from negotiating, and keeps hypocritically calling on us to negotiate. It looks simply idiotic: on the one hand, they are forbidden to negotiate with us, but we are called on to negotiate implying that we refuse to do so. It is nonsense. It looks like we are living in some kind of a fantasy world. Meanwhile, they should first command Kiev to lift the ban on negotiating with Russia, and second, we are ready to get down to negotiations as soon as tomorrow. We understand the peculiarity of the legal situation but there are legitimate authorities there, even in accord with the Constitution, as I have said. There is someone to negotiate with. Here you are, we are ready. Our conditions for starting such talks are simple, and come down to the following. You know, I am going to take some time to recall the entire chain of events once again to make it clear that what I am about to say is not just about today for us, but that we have always adhered to a certain position and always strived for peace. So, these conditions are simple. The Ukrainian troops must be completely withdrawn from the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics and Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. Let me note that they must be withdrawn from the entire territory of these regions within their administrative borders at the time of their being part of Ukraine. As soon as Kiev declares that it is ready to make this decision and begin a real withdrawal of troops from these regions, and also officially notifies that it abandons its plans to join NATO, our side will follow an order to cease fire and start negotiations will be issued by us that very moment. I repeat – we will do this expeditiously. Of course, we also guarantee an unhindered and safe withdrawal of Ukrainian units and formations. We would certainly like to expect that such a decision on troops withdrawal, on a non-bloc status and on launching dialogue with Russia, on which Ukraine’s existence in the future depends, will be adopted in Kiev independently, proceeding from the established realities and guided by genuine national interests of the Ukrainian people, and not at the behest of the West, although there are, of course, great doubts about it. Nevertheless, what do I mean to say again in this connection and what do I want to remind you about? I said that I would like to go through the timeline of the events again. Let us spend some time on this. Thus, during the events on the Maidan in Kiev in 2013–2014, Russia repeatedly offered its assistance in the constitutional resolution of the crisis which had been actually masterminded from outside. Let us return to the timeline of events at the end of February 2014. On February 18, the opposition provoked armed clashes in Kiev. A number of buildings, including the mayor’s office and the House of Trade Unions were set on fire. On February 20, unidentified snipers opened fire at protesters and law enforcement personnel, that is , the masterminds of the armed coup did everything to push the situation to violence, to radicalisation. And those who were in the streets of Kiev and expressed their discontent with the then authorities were deliberately used as cannon fodder for their own selfish purposes. They are doing exactly the same thing today, mobilizing and sending people to slaughter. Still, back then there was a chance to exit the situation in a civilised manner. It is on record that on February 21 the then President of Ukraine and the opposition signed an agreement on settling the political crisis. Its guarantors, as is well known, were the official representatives of Germany, Poland and France. The agreement provided for a return to a parliamentary-presidential form of government, holding early presidential elections, a formation of a government of national accord, as well as the withdrawal of law enforcement forces from the centre of Kiev and the surrender of weapons by the opposition. I should add that the Verkhovna Rada adopted a law ruling out criminal prosecution of the protesters. Such an agreement, which would have stopped the violence and returned the situation to the constitutional framework, was a fact. This agreement was been signed, although both Kiev and the West prefer not to bring it up either. Today, I will tell you another important fact that has not been publicly disclosed before: at the very same hours on February 21, I had a conversation with my American counterpart at the initiative of the American side. Essentially, the American leader offered unequivocal support for the Kiev agreement between the authorities and the opposition. Furthermore, he described it as a genuine breakthrough and an opportunity for the Ukrainian people to prevent the escalating violence from crossing all imaginable boundaries. Furthermore, during our discussions, we collaboratively formulated the following approach: Russia committed to persuading the then-President of Ukraine to exercise maximum restraint, refraining from deploying the army and law enforcement against protesters. Conversely, the United States pledged to urge the opposition to peacefully vacate administrative buildings and work towards calming the streets. All of these efforts were intended to restore normalcy in the country, ensuring adherence to constitutional and legal principles. Overall, we agreed to collaborate towards fostering a stable, peaceful, and well developing Ukraine. We fulfilled our commitments in full. At that time, President Yanukovych, who had no intention to deploy the army, refrained from doing so and even withdrew additional police units from Kiev. What about our Western colleagues? During the night of February 22 and throughout the following day, despite agreements and guarantees from the West (both Europe and the United States, as I just mentioned), radicals forcibly seized control of the Rada building, the Presidential Administration, and took over the government while President Yanukovych left for Kharkov, where the congress of deputies of the southeastern regions of Ukraine and Crimea was supposed to take place. And none of the guarantors of these political settlement agreements – neither the United States nor the Europeans – did a thing to fulfill their obligations by urging the opposition to release the seized administrative buildings and renounce violence. It is evident that this sequence of events not only suited them but also suggests they may have orchestrated the unfolding events. On February 22, 2014, the Verkhovna Rada, in contravention of Ukraine’s Constitution, passed a resolution declaring the self-removal of President Yanukovych from office and scheduled early elections for May 25. This marked an armed coup instigated by external influences. Ukrainian radicals, with implicit consent and direct backing from the West, obstructed all efforts for a peaceful resolution of the crisis. Then we urged Kiev and the Western capitals to initiate dialogue with the people in southeastern Ukraine, respect their interests, rights, and freedoms. However, the regime that seized power through the coup d’état opted for war and began punitive actions against Donbass in the spring and summer of 2014. Once again, Russia appealed for peace. We made every effort to address arising urgent issues within the framework of the Minsk Agreements. However, as previously emphasised, the West and the Kiev authorities showed no intention of implementing them despite verbal assurances from our Western colleagues, including the head of the White House, that they viewed the Minsk agreements as crucial and were committed to their implementation. They claimed that these agreements would help resolve the situation in Ukraine, stabilise it, and take into account the interests of the residents of eastern Ukraine. Instead, they effectively initiated a blockade, as I mentioned earlier, against Donbass. The Ukrainian Armed Forces systematically prepared for an all-out operation aimed at destroying the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s republics. The Minsk agreements were ultimately disregarded by the actions of the Kiev regime and the West. I will revisit this topic shortly. Therefore, in 2022, Russia was forced to begin the special military operation to cease the war in Donbass and safeguard civilians from genocide. From the outset, we consistently proposed diplomatic solutions to the crisis, as I mentioned earlier today. These included negotiations in Belarus and Turkiye, as well as the withdrawal of troops from Kiev to facilitate the signing of the Istanbul Agreements, which had been broadly accepted. However, these efforts were also rebuffed. The West and Kiev persisted in their aim to defeat us. Yet, as you know, these efforts ultimately faltered. Today, we are presenting another concrete and genuine peace proposal. If Kiev and Western capitals reject it again, as they have done before, then ultimately, it becomes their responsibility, both political and moral, for the ongoing bloodshed. Clearly, the situation on the front lines will continue to evolve unfavourably for the Kiev regime, altering the conditions necessary for initiating negotiations. Let me underscore the key point: the essence of our proposal is not a temporary truce or ceasefire, as the West might prefer, to allow the Kiev regime to recover, rearm, and prepare for a new offensive. I repeat: we are not discussing freezing the conflict, but its definitive resolution. And I will reiterate: once Kiev agrees to the course of action proposed today, including the full withdrawal of its troops from the DPR, LPR, the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, and begins this process earnestly, we are prepared to commence negotiations promptly without delay. I repeat our firm stance: Ukraine should adopt a neutral, non-aligned status, be nuclear-free, and undergo demilitarisation and denazification. These parameters were broadly agreed upon during the Istanbul negotiations in 2022, including specific details on demilitarisation such as the agreed numbers of tanks and other military equipment. We reached consensus on all points. Certainly, the rights, freedoms, and interests of Russian-speaking citizens in Ukraine must be fully protected. The new territorial realities, including the status of Crimea, Sevastopol, Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, Kherson, and Zaporozhye regions as parts of the Russian Federation, should be acknowledged. These foundational principles need to be formalised through fundamental international agreements in the future. Naturally, this entails the removal of all Western sanctions against Russia as well. I believe that Russia is proposing an option that will make it possible to bring the war in Ukraine to a real end, that is, we call for turning the tragic page of history and, although with difficulty, gradually, step by step, restoring relations of trust and neighbourliness between Russia and Ukraine and in Europe as a whole. Having settled the Ukrainian crisis, we, and our partners in the CSTO and the SCO, which today are still making a significant and constructive contribution to the search for a peaceful settlement of the Ukraine crisis, as well as Western partners, including European countries that are ready for dialogue, could embark on the fundamental task that I spoke about at the beginning of my statement, namely the creation of an indivisible system of Eurasian security that takes into account the interests of all the states on the continent without exception. Of course, a verbatim return to the security proposals that we put forward 25, 15 or even two years ago is impossible, as too much has happened and the conditions have changed. However, the basic principles and, most importantly, the very subject of dialogue remain unchanged. Russia is aware of its responsibility for global stability and reaffirms its readiness to talk to all countries. But this should not be an imitation of a peace process in order to serve someone’s selfish will or someone’s vested interests, but a serious and thorough conversation on all issues, on the entire range of questions of world security. Colleagues, I believe that all of you are well aware of the large-scale tasks facing Russia and how much we need to do, including in the foreign policy area. I sincerely wish you success in this difficult work to ensure Russia’s security, our national interests, strengthen the country’s position in the world, promote integration and bilateral relations with our partners. For their part, the national leadership will continue to provide the foreign ministry and all those involved in the implementation of Russia’s foreign policy with the necessary support. Thank you once again for your work, thank you for your patience and attent

Amid the ongoing bloody battles, Zelensky gathered his friends in Switzerland for his “summit on peace”, the main conclusion of which was the impossibility of any discussion without Moscow. While empty conversations continue in Europe, the Russian army is grinding the Ukrainian defenses in different directions and has achieved new gains on the Ukrainian battlefields. On the night of June 17, the Russian Aerospace Forces launched devastating strikes on the Ukrainian rear. In particular, the temporary points of deployment for the Ukrainian military in the Kharkiv region were destroyed. A Russian bomb hit a children’s camp in the Shevchenko district. Of course, the Ukrainian authorities announced an alleged attack on another civilian facility. In fact, the precision strike destroyed a building full of Ukrainian servicemen and foreign militants. Kharkiv remains one of the directions inflamed by tense battles. On the eve of Zelensky’s conference, the Ukrainian army was forced to throw significant forces into heavy counterattacks there. However, they could not boast of any success to their Western patrons. Intense fighting continues in Volchansk. The Ukrainian military is trying to transfer reserves across the river in the city and on its outskirts. Despite heavy losses, they are yet to achieve significant success. In the area of the town of Liptsy, Russian units were forced to retreat last week and hold defense on the outskirts of Glubokoe, but subsequent attacks by the Ukrainian military using NATO armored vehicles can no longer change the front line near the village and only result in growing Ukrainian and NATO losses. The ongoing attempts to find a weak spot in the Russian defense are not yet yielding any results. Meanwhile, Ukrainian military resources are sounding the alarm, declaring the intensification of Russian offensive operations along the entire front line in the Avdeevka direction from the Karlov reservoir in the south to the village of Kalinovo in the north. After the liberation of Novoaleksandrovka, Russian forces expanded the zone of their control to the south, west and northwest of the settlement. The assault on the Canal district continues in Chasov Yar. Most of the crossings over the Seversky Donets Canal have been destroyed. Ukrainian servicemen are trying to maintain control over the remaining high-rise buildings under heavy Russian fire. Most of the district came under the control of Russian paratroopers. According to preliminary reports in the Mariinka direction, the Russian army took control of Georgievka and entered Maximilianovka. The frontlines are also moving in the Zaporozhie region. On June 16, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed full control of the village of Zagornoe. In the Kherson region, Russian forces have recently taken control of several important islands in the Dnieper River, which is secured by their small infantry groups.

The Washington establishment seems to be reaching new levels of hypocrisy as if there are some new achievements that still could be collected in this field. The State Department declared that it has allowed direct delivery of US weapons to the Azov Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Members of this formation are infamous for their war crimes and worship of neo-Nazi views in the form that may be considered as “slightly too radical” even for the society under the rule of the Kyiv regime. “After thorough review, Ukraine’s 12th Special Forces Azov Brigade passed Leahy vetting as carried out by the US Department of State,” the agency said in a statement to the Washington Post on June 10. The State Department emphasized that it had found “no evidence” of any human rights violations committed by any members of the Azov Brigade. With such a high level of investigation, it would be logical if in the next conclusion by State Department investigators and their companions from NATO to find that their fellow brother Adolf was a prominent human rights activist and establish a peace fund of his name and send even more weapons to his followers in Ukraine. In turn, the Russian Armed Forces continue to a military operation against NATO-supported “human rights” activists on the frontlines on the territory once called Ukraine. As of June 11, Russian units made a series of tactical advances in the Volnovakha area of the Donetsk People’s Republic. The Russian Defense Ministry officially confirmed the liberation of the Staromayorskoye settlement south of the town of Velyka Novosilka. Also, Russian forces entered the nearby village of Urozhainoe. Clashes there are ongoing. The intense fighting also continues in the vicinity of Krasnogorovka west of Staromikhailovka in the countryside of Donetsk city. The Russian military has already established control in the southern vicinity of the town and is now working to destroy the defenses of the Kyiv regime east of it. Tactical gains by the Russians were also reported in the Kharkiv Region, where they undertook active actions in the area of Liptsy. The recent fighting was focused around the village of Glubokoe and surrounding areas. The situation in Sumy Region where Russian forces recently liberated the village of Rijevka remains stable. Meanwhile, the director of Russia’s Federal Security Service Aleksandr Bortnikov made an official statement saying that “Ukrainian and Western intelligence services are expanding the circle of possible perpetrators, recruited to commit high-profile crimes inside Russia.” He added that Kyiv and its backers are also assisting “international terrorist organizations” that train and provide equipment to these persons. He described the involvement of Ukrainian military intelligence in the deadly terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall near Moscow in March as a “vivid example” of such activities.

The positional stalemate remains on frontlines of the Ukrainian conflict despite the inability of the Kyiv regime to fully contain the pressure from the Russian Armed Forces. As of June 10, units of the Russian military entered the Sumy Region and took control of the village of Rijevka, which is located close to the border with the Russian region of Kursk. Rijevka became the first settlement on which the Russian side established permanent control in the Sumy region since April of 2022. At the same time, intense fighting is ongoing in the area of Volchansk in the Kharkiv Region. Kyiv’s forces carried out a series of attempts to attack Russian positions established there but suffered casualties and retreated. In return, the Russian military made tactical gains in the direction of the machinery manufacturing plant there. Attacks by Kyiv’s forces around the settlement of Glubokoe were also repelled. Local clashes were also ongoing near the village of Zelenoe, where Russian forces reportedly captured some of nearby high-points. Positional fighting continues in the countryside of Avdeevka, near Donetsk city. In recent days, Russian units developed advances north and west of Umanskoe. Positional clashes in urban areas continue in Krasnogorovka. The situation also remains tense around Bakhmut. Russian forces have been carrying out operations along the Seversky Donetsk-Donbass channel east of Chasov Yar. Another point of clashes is the Soledar countryside where Russian troops advanced towards the village of Razdolovka, which remains in the hands of the Kyiv regime. All these Russian tactical gains happened despite intense resistance by forces of the Kyiv regime. Moreover, the Ukrainian Armed Forces conduct regular counter-attacks in several directions. Additionally to Volchansk, units of the Kyiv regime undertook attempts to carry out such operations in the countrysides around Bakhmut and Avdeevka. These actions are accompanied by the continuing policy of terror attacks on civilian targets inside Russian territory. Over the past 24 hours alone, Russian air defense forces repelled 6 Ukrainian attacks involving missiles and UAVs of various types on Bryansk and Belgorod. It also became known that on the evening of June 8 the Ukrainian Armed Forces attempted to attack a civilian tugboat and barge moving in Taganrog Bay in the Sea of Azov with drones. As a result of the attack the barge received minor damage above the waterline while the tugboat had its windows knocked out. At least two people reportedly received minor injures. The tugboat’s performance, however, remained undamaged. The captain decided to return to the port of Azov in the Rostov region. Thus, the Kyiv regime’s toolbox includes not only regular terrorist attacks against Russian cities and settlements, but also attempts to disrupt the civilian maritime traffic in the region.

On the night of June 7, the Russian military launched a new massive combined attack on the Ukrainian military and industrial infrastructure in the rear regions. The attack began with strikes in the eastern war-torn Kharkiv region, where large Ukrainian forces are pounded on a daily basis. As a result of the night strikes on the outskirts of the city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian and foreign heavy military equipment supplies from NATO were destroyed. Night strikes destroyed targets in the southern sea port of Chernomorsk in the Odessa region, where NATO countries are trying to supply their military equipment by sea routs and the Ukrainian military has facilities for production and deployment of various naval drones. A series of explosions thundered in the Poltava region. According to local reports, an air defense system was destroyed as a result of the precision strikes. Russian missiles again struck the Starokonstantinov airfield in the Khmelnitsk region. The capital of Ukraine, the Kyiv region, also came under attack. Russian strikes were reported in the city of Bila Tserkva, where the target was presumably another Ukrainian air defense system and areas of accumulation of military personnel. Footage confirmed a large fire that broke out as a result of a Russian strike presumably on an industrial infrastructure facility in the Kyiv region. The results of Russian strikes deny yet another lie by the Ukrainian General Staff about the alleged interception of all Russian drones and missiles. The night was busy not only for the Ukrainian military but also for their colleagues in Poland. The press service of the Polish Ministry of National Defense again reported that Polish fighters, as well as aircraft of their NATO partners, were forced to take off for patrolling in the border areas. Warsaw complained that the action that night was thick and the entire air defense system of the country was on alert monitoring the airspace. On the other hand, the Ukrainian military attempted yet another massive wave of drone strikes in the Russian rear regions. The Russian Ministry of Defense reported the interception of at least 29 Ukrainian UAVs in the western and southern regions as well as over Crimea. In the morning, the Ukrainian military continued the attacks, including in residential areas in Russian cities. A Neptune missile was destroyed on its way to Belgorod. At least three more missiles were destroyed near Rostov-on-Don. The city of Luhansk also came under missile attack. As a result, dozens of civilians became victims in a destroyed multistory building. The number of victims of the Ukrainian terrorist attacks on civilian facilities continues to grow.

The morning of June 5 began with another dubious victory in Ukraine. The Command of the Air Forces of Ukraine declared that another massive attack of Russian drones was repelled. 22 out of 27 kamikaze UAVs were allegedly destroyed by the almighty Ukrainian air defense forces. At night, sirens sounded in all regions in the south, center and east of the country. While Kiev was staging new victories in the media, the regional authorities were forced to admit the damage. It was confirmed that Russian strikes reached their targets in the Kharkiv, Dnepropetrovsk and Mykolaiv regions. Military and energy infrastructure was damaged there. In the morning, a series of Russian airstrikes hit the Ukrainian military in the northern Sumy region. The local authorities confirmed missile strike on workshops of an industrial enterprise in Konotop, which was definitely used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In its turn, the Ukrainian military has been recently avoiding massive attacks with NATO missiles on the Russian rear and has limited itself to drone launches and artillery shelling in border areas. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, three UAVs were destroyed in the Belgorod, Kursk and Voronezh regions at night. The constant Russian rear strikes are supporting the ongoing offensive operations along the entire line of contact in the Donbass. The town of Volchansk turned into the main battlefield in the Kharkiv direction. Heavy battles are ongoing on the streets in its center, where Russian forces are storming the aggregate plant, repelling Ukrainian counterattacks. Containing large Ukrainian forces in the north, the Russian army is developing offensive in all other directions. The area of Chasov Yar is inflamed by heavy battles. In the city, clashes are ongoing in Kanal district. The densely located high-rise buildings there complicate Russian assault on the streets but at the same time, the situation of the Ukrainian garrison is deteriorating on the flanks. Russian forces have recently advanced in and near Kalinovka and reached the Seversky Donets canal where an important supply road was cut. Russian forces achieved new gains in the area of Avdeevka. After their victory in Netailovo, they launched assault on Karlovka and took control of the eastern part of the village. No water reservoir could help the Armed Forces of Ukraine to hold the defense there. To the north, the Russian military is advancing in different directions from Ocheretino. The mop up operation is ongoing in Sokil, while the Russians launched new assault on Novoaleksandrovka. The Russian military is expanding the zone of its control on the heights in the area, threatening the village of Progress, an important logistics hub turned into Ukrainian stronghold. New Russian victories were achieved in the South Donetsk direction. Russian flag was raised in Paraskovievka. Battle for Konstantinovka, the main Ukrainian stronghold in the area has begun.

Kiev is actively preparing for the upcoming peace conference on Ukraine, which is to be held in Switzerland in mid-June. While Zelensky travels around the world, begging for support, Ukrainian propaganda has gone full blast in an attempt to remind Kiev’s sponsors of the ‘valiant struggle of the most democratic country defending world peace from the terrible Russians’. On the eve of all the meetings with Western decision-makers, all kinds of provocations are expected aimed at accusing the Russians of various crimes. Moscow tries to act ahead of the curve. Russian authorities have warned about upcoming provocations in the Kherson region. A group of 13 Ukrainian film makers and war correspondents arrived in Kherson to stage fake Russian strikes on civilian facilities with heavy losses. Fake videos are also filmed on the frontlines. Recently, Chechen soldiers discovered a Ukrainian field film studio in one of the captured positions in the Kremennaya area. There, Ukrainian propagandists filmed fake videos about their victories using dummy bodies of Russian soldiers, red paint and various fragments of Russian equipment. Exchanged Ukrainian POWs are also exploited by Kiev’s propaganda. Ukrainian media rarely show the traitors who surrendered to the Russians, but recently, as if by order, numerous videos have begun to appear with stories featuring healthy POWs about the terrible conditions in Russian captivity. Outright lies are spread by official sources of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has published a message about an allegedly downed Russian aircraft, supporting it with photo of a crash at the Royal International Air Tattoo airshow in 1993. Another official statement by the Ukrainian 110th Mechanized Brigade about the alleged destruction of a Russian Su-25 was supported by footage from a computer game. The use of war simulators and games is one of the most popular methods used by Ukrainian military propagandists. On the other hand, Kiev’s attempts to accuse Moscow of its own crimes look ridiculous. While Ukrainian men are afraid to leave their homes so as not to be captured by military recruiters, Kiev has officially declared that thousands of videos featuring illegal mass mobilization, beatings and kidnappings are nothing more than fake videos shot by the Russian film studio Mosfilm. The same lies are spread about Russian crimes and Ukrainian democracy during the years of the war. Kiev’s methods of information warfare have changed little, which is why their effectiveness is rapidly declining and does not lead to the desired support for the terrorist regime. The low efficiency and negligence of Ukrainian officials and propagandists also testify to the fatigue of the population and the agony of the regime, which can no longer support the struggle in the media or on the battlefield.

The United States prepares for the upcoming elections, as always, by increasing the escalation in various world regions where Americans are involved in military conflicts. Washington is trying its best to demonstrate the determination and capacity of the elderly Biden. Amid some political coolness, since Biden refuses to join Zelensky’s conference in Switzerland, American warmongers have allowed their weapons to strike at Russian territory. The servile ‘partners’ in Europe willy-nilly pick up the new trend. Moscow assess the ongoing discussion around the use of Western weapons outside of the conflict zone quite unambiguously, calling the NATO countries a party to the conflict, in part because the use of foreign weapons requires the participation of the military of the North Atlantic Alliance. All statements coming from Western officials have very little to do with reality. Kiev and NATO have long been attacking the Russian rear with Western weapons, including missiles, artillery launchers, as well as HIMARS MLRS and Patriot SAMS, which are the main topic of the fuss in the controlled MSM. In particular, back in January, a Patriot air defense system shot down a Russian Il-76 military transport aircraft with Ukrainian prisoners of war on board. Various Western systems are deployed along the entire front line. Many of them are located in the northern border regions, from where they are shelling Russian territory, including civilian targets. In response, Russian forces are pounding the regions, destroying enemy military positions with drones, missiles and heavy bombs. On the night of June 3, the Kharkiv region came under new wave of strikes. A series of explosions thundered in its capital. According to local reports, an air defense system hidden on the territory of a local industrial facility, as well as armored military equipment, were destroyed. More Ukrainian military positions came under attack near the towns of Bogoduhov, Zmiev and Zolochev. Not to mention the front areas. Heavy strikes are targeting the large Ukrainian military reserves sent to the Kharkiv region in order to stop the Russian offensive. Together with regular units taken from other directions, the Ukrainian command is throwing elite forces into the battle. According to the latest reports, the notorious 414th separate elite battalion of unmanned strike aircraft systems, known as Ptahy Madyara, was deployed in the Kharkiv direction. The forces specialized on massive drone strikes are likely aimed to counterbalance the lack of artillery shelling capability that the Ukrainian military is suffering as a result of heavy losses in artillery systems. The Kharkiv frontlines are inflamed by heavy battles. The Armed Forces of Ukraine attempted large counterattacks in the forest areas on the outskirts of Volchansk, while clashes continue in the center. In another direction, Russian forces broke through the Ukrainian defenses and slightly expanded their zone of control southeast of Liptsy.

The United States appears to have made the decision to escalate the conflict in Ukraine and increase tensions in the Middle East. On May 30, The Politico reported that the Biden administration has secretly given Ukraine permission to strike inside Russia using U.S.-provided weapons. One U.S. official told the outlet that Biden had made the decision to allow Ukraine to use such weapons for counter-fire purposes in Kharkiv only, noting that the policy of not allowing long-range strikes inside Russia “has not changed.” The decision will allow Ukraine “flexibility” to defend itself from attacks on the border near Kharkiv, another official said. Now, Kiev forces will be able to use U.S.-provided weapons to shoot down Russian missiles heading toward Kharkiv, against troops massing just over the Russian border near the city, or at Russian bombers launching bombs toward Ukrainian territory. The U.S. officials alleged that Ukraine will not be allowed to hit civilian infrastructure or launch long-range missiles, such as the ATACMS, to hit military targets deep inside Russia. They didn’t however explain how exactly the U.S. will enforce this. Biden’s dangerous decision came after top U.S. allies, such as the United Kingdom and France, said that Ukraine should have the right to attack inside Russia using Western weapons. How exactly Moscow will respond remains unclear. In addition to inflaming the conflict in Ukraine, the Biden administration and its allies are increasing tensions in the Middle East. On May 30, the U.S. and U.K. carried out a series of strikes against the Houthis in Yemen in response to the group’s repeated attacks on Israel-linked ships in the Red Sea and other nearby waters. The Iranian-backed group has been launching these attacks in response to the U.S.-backed Israeli war on the Palestinian enclave known as the Gaza Strip. The coalition strikes targeted 13 Houthi targets in parts of Yemen controlled by the group. Al-Masirah said that 14 people were killed and more than 40 others were wounded in the American-British strikes. In addition, the U.S. unilaterally destroyed eight Houthi suicide drones over Yemen and the Red Sea. The deadly attack on Yemen, which was the fifth to be carried out jointly by the U.S. and the UK since January, will likely provoke a fierce response from the Houthis. It shows how the Biden administration is starting new wars in the Middle East instead of pressuring Israel to end its war on Gaza, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 36,000 Palestinians. Overall, the U.S. does not appear to be interested in pursuing any diplomatic solution for the conflicts in Europe and the Middle East. This complete abandonment of diplomacy in favor of uncalculated military adventures is pushing the world closer to an all-out war.

Kiev welcomes the continuous flow of Western leaders, who are coming to the Ukrainian capital to eat pizza and play guitar in a bar; but for some reason they refuse to travel the country and visit the eastern cities like Kharkiv. While Kiev is playing diplomacy, Russian precision strikes are pounding the Ukrainian military throughout the country and Russian troops are advancing on all frontlines. On the night of May 21, a new wave of Russian strikes targeted different Ukrainian regions. The Command of the Ukrainian Air Force proudly declared that the air raids in the five rear regions were repelled by the all-mighty Ukrainian air defense forces. According to the official data, 28 out of 29 Russian UAVs were allegedly destroyed. It seems that one Russian drone missed by the Ukrainian air defenses managed to inflict heavy damage across the country. The southern city of Odessa came under attack the third night in a row. Local sources confirmed strikes on the outskirts of the city as well as damage to the port infrastructure in Ilyichevsk. More successful Russian drone strikes were reported in the city of Cherkassy in the central part of Ukraine. The Ukrainian military accumulated in the city of Kharkiv and the surrounding regions are pounded by Russian strikes all day long. Last night, large fires broke out in the city, where the points of accommodation of military reserves came under attack. The precision strikes in the rear support the ongoing Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region. Both Russian and Ukrainian military sources acknowledge Russian advances in the town of Volchansk. Footage from the settlement confirms Russian control of one Ukrainian stronghold after another. The Russian military pushed Ukrainian forces across the river to the southern part of the town, completing the mop up operation in the center. Heavy battles are ongoing on the flanks in the settlements nearby. The Ukrainian command sends reinforcements with NATO vehicles and heavy military equipment to the area, but Russian forces maintain the initiative. Ukrainian forces are trying their best to prevent the advancing Russians from taking fire control of their main supply road to Volchansk. In the case of Russian success, the Ukrainian garrison in the town will find itself in an operational encirclement. Russian assault groups are expanding their zone of control in and around Liptsy, while the Ukrainian grouping in the town is ground down by heavy bombs and artillery. The pace of the Russian offensive in the region slowed down after the fighting reached settlements that had been turned into Ukrainian strongholds; but the number of surrendering Ukrainian servicemen remains high at this front. Alongside numerous Ukrainian men, who were recently captured on the streets and thrown into battles without the necessary training, Ukrainian POWs include professional servicemen of the Main Intelligence Directorate and experienced militants from the Nazi battalions.

On May 20, Zelensky’s term of office expired. The presidential elections should have been held on March 31, but the current regime canceled them due to martial law. The Ukrainian parliament extends it every three months. However, the constitution of Ukraine states that it is impossible to hold only parliamentary elections during martial law, without mentioning the prohibition of the presidential ones. The MSM and the Ukrainian media launched an information campaign justifying the preservation of power in the hands of Zelensky. One of the main broadcasting narratives pushes to convince the public that Zelensky’s support is so high that he simply has no competition. Indeed, opposition parties are banned in the country, and all independent media and TV channels were closed long ago. On May 18, the new law strengthening military mobilization came into force. People are afraid to go out on the streets. Half of the population has no right to leave the country, those who try to illegally cross the border are shot, and the military kidnaps people en masse on the streets. The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service has published data which reveals that Zelensky’s popularity among military personnel does not exceed 20 percent and continues to decline. As for the local civilian population, more than 70% of Ukrainians no longer believe local media reports, and about 90% are ready to leave the country. Rapidly losing the support of the population, Zelensky staged a purge in the country. Afraid of his vulnerability, he gets rid of the unreliable entourage, changing the command in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Security Services and other structures. The fear-stricken Ukrainian president even launched a media campaign regarding an alleged preparation of an assassination attempt on him by the State Security Department. The continued defeats on the frontlines do not add to Zelensky’s public support either. The assault units of the Russian northern group continue to advance in the Kharkiv region in two directions. In Volchansk, the Ukrainian command throws into battle the professional fighters of the special forces and ardent militants from nazi battalions; but this does not help to stop the Russian advance. Russian forces are securing their positions in the center of the city and are already crossing the river, attacking the last Ukrainian strongholds in the southern part of Volchansk. The Russian military gained new victories in Chasov Yar and advanced on the streets of its eastern Kanal district. In the Donetsk direction, Ukrainian military sources acknowledge the loss of the strategically important town of Netailovo, where the Russians are completing mop up operations. Despite all the defeats on the battlefields and in the rear, Kiev tries to convince the population that support for Zelensky is so overwhelming that there is no point in holding elections.

Amid the ongoing heavy battles on the frontlines, Russia and Ukraine continue to exchange massive strikes in the rear areas. On the night of May 17, Russian forces launched a series of precision strikes in different Ukrainian regions. While Russian troops are approaching Kharkiv, Ukrainian military facilities in the city and the region are pounded by drones, missiles and heavy bombs. The local authorities confirmed damage as a result of Russian night strikes in its different districts, including the industrial zone. The destroyed targets included the points of deployment of the Ukrainian military, used for accommodation of reserves prepared for further deployment on the Kharkiv frontlines. More explosions thundered in Poltava, where an air defense system was reportedly destroyed. Ukrainian military infrastructure facilities, including a command post, were struck in the Vinnytsya region. After a pause, Russian Geran UAVs came back to the southern Odessa region. In its turn, the NATO/Ukrainian military are increasing the intensity of attacks in the Russian rear. On the morning of May 17, the Russian Ministry of Defense summed up that 102 Ukrainian UAVs were destroyed in five Russian regions as a result of the night air battles. Crimea was targeted by a combined attack. Together with 51 Ukrainian UAVs intercepted over the peninsula, at least 6 unmanned boats were destroyed in the Black Sea. The attack was as usual coordinated by NATO reconnaissance aircraft operating in the area. As a result of the drone strikes, falling wreckage caused fire at an oil depot in the town of Tuapse. Some minor fires were reported in Novorossiysk. All of the fires were eliminated by the morning. One of the intercepted Ukrainian drones exploded near the energy substation in Sevastopol causing minor damage. The scale of the night attack is not comparable to the miserable results. The Crimean peninsula, mainly its western part, including the city of Sevastopol, were targeted by massive combined attacks for the third day in a row. On May 16, at least 13 Ukrainian unmanned boats were destroyed in the western waters of the Black Sea. The Ukrainian military upgraded its marine drones and equipped them with antiaircraft missiles; but they are still easily destroyed by helicopters of the Russian Navy. The new wave of escalation is waging in Ukraine. The Russian army is grinding down the Ukrainian defenses and advances in the Kharkiv, Avdeevka, Zaporozhie and other directions. Kiev armed by NATO is heavily shelling civilian areas, increasing attempts to reach any strategic targets deep in the Russian rear. Kiev is serving the needs of the NATO warmongers. Once the Ukrainian army loses the ongoing war, it does not end the standoff between Moscow and the West. Thus, any decisive damage to the Russian military, in particular in Crimea, will benefit NATO in the end.

While the Russian military is capturing one Ukrainian stronghold after another on the frontlines, NATO is scraping money together to keep the Kiev regime alive. Meanwhile, Ukraine is hunting down its own citizens in an attempt to find more cannon fodder for the meat grinder of war. Russian flags are raised on one newly captured settlement after another. Over the past days alone, the rapid Russian advance resulted in control of three strategically important villages north of Avdeevka. No deployment of additional reinforcements, including the units equipped with the US-made Abrams tanks, helped to hold the defense west of Avdeevka. All the main strongholds there have already fallen. If the Ukrainian military command does not allow the withdrawal of the remaining troops from the northern outskirts of Berdychi, this battlefield is likely to turn into another mass grave. The Russian military also won another heavy battle in the southern Donetsk direction. Russian forces gained a foothold at the refractory plant in Krasnogorovka. This large facility was turned into the main stronghold of the Ukrainian army in the area, which in order to strengthen, large resources were sent. The Russian flag over the plant may become a turning point in the battle for the town, which is located on the hills and offers fire control over a large surrounding area. The pace of the Russian advance in different directions marks cracks in the entire Ukrainian defense in the Donbass and the depletion of the Ukrainian military. No amount military support from the West could help the Ukrainian army gain back the initiative, but rather only prolong its agony. Suffering heavy losses, Kiev is faced with an acute shortage in manpower. While the military commissars are hunting for drivers for Leopard and Abrams tanks on the streets, Kiev is taking unpopular measures looking for some legal ways to expand the mobilization. In May, a new law will enter into power and allow Kiev to take more young, elderly and handicapped people to the front. Violating the Constitution, Kiev does not allow potential soldiers to hide either in Ukraine or abroad. Ukraine suspended all consular services to men of military age living abroad. Kiev’s policy may help find some more cannon fodder but it has more important long-term consequences, mainly for the European states which are already suffering from the poor control of migration. Thrown out of the legal field, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have every chance to strengthen thriving criminal structures in Europe.

Loosing battles on the frontlines, Kiev prolongs the bloodshed, sacrificing its population, forced to fulfill the wishes of NATO warmongers. The last few weeks were marked by a rapid Russian breakthrough of the Ukrainian defenses on the northern flank in the Avdeevka direction. The Russian Ministry of Defense officially confirmed full control of the village of Novobakhmutovka, which complicated the positions of the remaining Ukrainian garrison near Berdychi. Ukrainian units that lost precious American Abrams tanks are now grinded in a fire cauldron. Russian forces are reinforcing their foothold around Ocheretino, while the Armed Forces of Ukraine are losing the battle for Netailovo nearby. The Russian military continues multiple pinpoint attacks along the entire front line, cracking the Ukrainian defenses at the seams. The recent Russian assault in the Kupyansk front, which has been inflamed by positional battles in recent months, has already brought new victories. Russian troops crashed into Ukrainian defenses near the village of Kislovka and took control of a large part of it. Suffering from defeats in the Donbass, Kiev invents victories to declare in the media. The Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief reported control of the small island of Nestriga in the floodplain of the Dnieper River. Such claims are aimed to please the audience but have zero tactical impact on the situation on the battlefield. A small Ukrainian infantry group was reportedly destroyed on the island on the same night. Most of the Dnieper islands remain in the grey zone and neither of the warring sides hold a secured foothold there. Pushed by heavy defeats, Kiev and its NATO patrons are looking for large media victories. One of these provocations may be the expected massive attack on the Crimean Bridge on one of the upcoming Russian holidays. In an attempt to weaken Russian air defenses in the peninsula, the Ukrainian/NATO military launched airstrikes on the airfield near Dzhankoi on April 17. On April 28, 5 ATACMS missiles that targeted air defense facilities on the Western Cape Tarkhankut were destroyed. Despite Kiev’s lies about the defensive nature of the NATO military supplies, the new batches of ATACMS missiles were supplied for the strikes deep in the Russian rear. An attack on the Crimean Bridge is not important from the point of view of military necessity, but in the case of success, it may bring the necessary media attention to temporarily hide Ukrainian losses. On the other hand, the damage to Russian military facilities in Crimea, including the military airfields and the Black Sea Fleet, may become a heavy blow to Russia. Pinpoint strikes in the Russian rear with advanced Western missiles will not help the Ukrainian military to win; but they could have a long-term effect and may weaken Russia in the case of a larger war.

The war in Ukraine sees no end. The upcoming warm and dry weather is expected to bring another escalation to the front. Armed and trained by NATO, the Armed Forces of Ukraine failed to take back control of any new territories and can’t stop retreating from their positions. Preparing for a possible Russian offensive, for example across the border in the Kharkiv, NATO is sending new weapons, paying to keep their puppets alive. The main goal of the new military supplies is to offer the impotent Kiev a chance to launch strikes in the Russian rear, which is another harsh provocation. New NATO weapons are yet to bring any strategic victories, while the Russian army is rapidly expanding the zone of its control in different directions. On May 2, the Russian Ministry of Defence officially confirmed the full Russian control of the village of Berdychi, which was the last stronghold of the Ukrainian line of defense west of Avdeevka. At the same time, Ukrainian forces are fleeing from their positions northwest of Avdeevka, where the battle for Arhangelskoe is already ongoing. The russian assault is ongoing from the southern and southeastern directions and has reached the centre of the village. The notorious 47th Separate Mechanised Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is losing another battle, ground together with its NATO heavy vehicles. This Brigade called Magura was considered one of the most well-trained Ukrainian units. Trained by American military instructors to launch massive combined assault operations, the 47th Separate Motorised Brigade was thrown on the edge of the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Zaporozhye region last year. Destroyed in failed offensive operations, the unit suffered horrific losses in NATO vehicles and in manpower. Having achieved no victories, the Brigade was redeployed to Avdeevka in an attempt to stop Russian advance. As a result, a large amount of western military equipment, including a lot of US-made Abrams tanks, were destroyed. During the mop up operation in Berdychi, the Russian military captured new trophies from NATO; and the fields around Berdychi are covered with bodies of dead Ukrainians. Meanwhile, the Russian army erased the miserable results of the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Zaporozhye region. Russian troops have recently advanced in several directions there. After the recent advance in the area of Rabotino, new Russian victory was reported in Urozhainoe. After massive shelling of the Ukrainian military positions, Russian assault groups advanced several hundred meters and gained back control of a foothold in the southern part of the settlement. This victory paves the way for a further Russian offensive in the settlements nearby. No NATO tanks, armored vehicles nor training helped the Armed Forces of Ukraine to save control of the few small villages captured during the failed counteroffensive.

I think the title translates to 'Fungus' in English. If someone has a better translation, please let me know. Voice over is in Lithuanian language. A Soviet Cartoon by "Soyuzmultfilm" Moscow 1958

Another day was marked by devastating Russian strikes in Ukrainian rear areas. On the night of April 19, numerous explosions thundered in the southern, central and eastern regions of the war-torn country. The massive attack involved Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bombers armed with Kh-22 and Kh-32 missiles as well as MiG-31K fighters armed with Kinzhal hypersonic ballistic missiles and waves of Geran drones. The targets of the night attack included the railways of Ukraine. Several missiles struck Ukrainian infrastructure, which was serving military traffic. In the early hours, large explosions thundered at the railway station in the city of Dnipro, which is one of the largest logistic hubs of the Ukrainian military in the eastern and southern areas of the front. The Ukrainian Railways company officially confirmed the damage which was not possible to hide, but blamed the Russian military for attacks on the allegedly civilian infrastructure. In fact, various independent sources confirmed that the target was a military echelon with equipment and military personnel, which was successfully destroyed. The day before, the same city of Dnipro suffered heavy losses as a result of the precision Russian strikes at the local military airfield. At least two Russian missiles with cluster munitions struck the parking area for military aircraft. Three MiG-29s of the Ukrainian Air Force were heavily damaged. One more missile destroyed a local depot housing military equipment. Another Russian strike destroyed the launcher of a Ukrainian S-300 air defense system and damaged its radar in the city. Footage of the attack was quickly shared online confirming the damage. The strikes at a distance of about 90 kilometers from the frontlines were coordinated by Russian reconnaissance UAVs, which passed unnoticed by Ukrainian air defense forces. This is yet more evidence of the growth of the fire and reconnaissance capabilities of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The Russian side also suffered losses during the night attack on April 19. One of the Russian Tu-22M3 long-range bombers crashed in the Stavropol region. According to the Ministry of Defense, the aircraft was returning from a combat mission, explaining why there was no ammunition on board. The preliminary cause of the crash is a technical malfunction. According to unofficial reports, two crew members died as a result of the accident. The commander of the crew forcibly ejected three of his subordinates, but sacrificed his own life. He remained in the plane to the last minute in order to guide it away from residential buildings. Thanks to his deed, there was no collateral damage on the ground. Another crew member was reportedly found dead on the ground after ejecting. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine tried to declare another fake victory, claiming that the aircraft was allegedly shot down by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile; but even the Ukrainians no longer believe their lies.

Russian precision strikes give no rest to the Ukrainian military in rear regions. The exhausted Ukrainian air defense can no longer effectively repel the constant combined strikes. Despite Kiev’s attempts to blame the Russians for attacks on civilian facilities, the truth is more and more difficult to hide. On the night of April 18, new wave of Russian strikes hit Ukrainian military and energy facilities in the Kharkiv and Kiev regions. Explosions were reported in the town of Vishgorod not far from the Ukrainian capital. The target of the attack is yet to be revealed; but the town hosts a large pumped hydroelectric energy storage facility. While Kiev is threatening Russia with the continuation of ground operations in the border regions, Russian forces are pounding Ukrainian military facilities in the border Kharkiv and Sumy regions. Last night, Russian strikes on Ukrainian manpower and equipment thwarted plans of Ukrainian assault groups to launch attacks in the Russian Belgorod region. According to local reports, Russian drones and missiles reached targets in the western Ukrainian regions. A military airfield in the Ivano-Frankivsk region reportedly came under attack. The facility served as a reserve airfield for the Ukrainian Air Force. During the massive Russian strikes, Ukrainian aircraft are moving there from the neighboring regions. It is also used for repair of military aircraft. More strikes were reported in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk itself, where a point of temporary military deployment and an ammo depot were destroyed. Another military airfield struck last night was reportedly the notorious Starokonstantinov in the Khmelnitsk region, which is targeted on a regular basis to prevent the deployment of NATO F-16 fighters there. Russian attacks in the Ukrainian rear continue around the clock. On April 17, Russian missiles inflicted heavy losses on the Ukrainian military, accommodated in a hotel in Chernihiv. Another strike destroyed a lot of Ukrainian servicemen hiding in a school in Konstantinovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic. On the other hand, Ukrainian forces can only achieve any victories when their attacks are launched with the close-in support of the NATO military. Likely preparing for another attack on the Crimean Bridge, NATO-Ukrainian forces attacked a military airfield in northern Crimea. Russian air defense deployed there suffered losses from the strikes of the US-made ATACMS missiles. The strikes were coordinated by American reconnaissance UAV spotted over the Black Sea.

Amid the drastic escalation of dangerous military conflicts, the French president is trying to play the role of global peacekeeper. One of his small goals on the way to saving the world is to stop all wars during the Olympics in Paris. Macron in all modesty began working on the Olympic truce, asking for help from his “partners”, including China. Beijing has yet to respond to Macron’s ambitions; but Russian President Putin had previously made it clear to his French counterpart: Moscow is ready to consider any peace initiative, but would proceed only from its own interests and from the current situation at the front. Despite all Paris’s attempts pull the wool over the public’s eyes, his actions are not based on the basic principles of peace and friendships embedded in the idea of the Olympic Games. Macron is only pursuing his political goals, while his initiatives, on the contrary, are aimed at influencing the situation on the battlefields. While the International Olympic Committee blatantly discriminates against Russian athletes, Paris has stated that Russians and Belarusians are not welcome. In addition to the political field, Macron’s initiatives may have a direct impact on the situation on the Ukrainian frontlines. The Ukrainian army urgently needs a break to regroup troops, strengthen defense, and tighten reserves. Macron’s peacekeeper game has no chance of helping to resolve armed conflicts, but can only briefly bring solace his French audience. Meanwhile, Russian missiles are bringing an end to the war in Ukraine much faster. In particular, with precise strikes against the French military, who have come to the aid of the Kiev militants. While Macron is talking about peace, his decision to send forces to Ukraine can only prolong the fighting and even escalate the great European war. Just a few days ago, reports from the Ukrainian frontlines claimed that the first groups of French militants from the 3rd Infantry Regiment of the French Foreign Legion have arrived in the city of Slavyansk in the DPR. The unit includes specialists in artillery reconnaissance, as well as an engineering group specialized in field fortifications. The French were reportedly stationed at the location of one of the Ukrainian brigades. On the morning of April 15, a large explosion thundered in Slavyansk. According to claims from the local guerrilla movement, the precision Russian strike destroyed the location of the Ukrainian gunners, where the French could also have been stationed. At the moment, only the training of the French special battalion tactical group consisting of about 1,500 servicemen from the Foreign Legion and regular troops of the French Army have been officially confirmed. Reports on the deployment of the French military on the frontlines can be reliably confirmed when Paris will no longer be able to hide the obituaries from Ukraine.