UN / UKRAINE

“We cannot afford to lose the current, fragile diplomatic momentum,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres told a high-level Security Council briefing on Ukraine, as he reiterated his appeal for “a full, comprehensive and sustainable ceasefire.” UNIFEED

• Video Length: 00:06:00
• Production Date: 23 September 2025
• Asset Language: English; French; Russian
• Personal Subject: ANTONIO GUTERRES; VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY
• Corporate Name: SECURITY COUNCIL
• Subject Topical: PEACE AND SECURITY
• Geographic Subject: UKRAINE
• MAMS Id: 3451113
• Parent Id: 3449734
• Alternate Title: unifeed250923l

Description

STORY: UN / UKRAINE
TRT: 06:00
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / FRENCH / RUSSIAN / NATS

DATELINE: 23 SEPTEMBER 2025, NEW YORK CITY

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, United Nations headquarters
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Three and a half years into this war, our position remains clear, principled and consistent: To respect and protect civilians. To mitigate the regional and global impact of the conflict. And to uphold the UN Charter.”
4. Wide shot, Security Council, Ukrainian delegation
5. SOUNDBITE (French) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“We cannot afford to lose the current, fragile diplomatic momentum. The longer this war continues, the more devastating its consequences for everyone. I therefore reiterate my appeal for a full, comprehensive and sustainable ceasefire.”
6. Wide shot, Security Council
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President, Ukraine:
“Each day Russia kills our people, destroys our cities and leaves no sign it will ever return to the principles of the UN Charter. China is also represented here, a powerful nation on which Russia now depends completely. If China truly wanted this war to stop, it could compel Moscow to end the invasion.”
8. Wide shot, Security Council
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President, Ukraine:
“That is why today, with Britain, with France, and already with more than 40 nations in our coalition of the willing, we are building a new security architecture. We count on the United States of America as a backstop. Real security guarantees must become the line Russia cannot cross again. Here is one example of how strength can stop war. If we could strengthen our skies with a joint system to shut down Russian missiles and drones, it would force Russia to stop its attacks from the sky, because everything could be shut down, and so Putin would be forced to sit here or in another respectable venue and look for a truce on the ground. If there is no war in the sky, Russia can't keep fighting on the ground.”
10. Med shot, Russian delegation
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Marco A. Rubio, Secretary of State, United States:
“The President is a very patient man. He's very committed to peace, but his patience is not infinite. And as he has said repeatedly, he has before him the opportunity and the options of imposing additional economic costs on the Russian Federation, if necessary, in order to bring this to an end. He also has before him the option, as he has already chosen to do in some circumstances, to sell defensive weaponry and potentially offensive weaponry, so that Ukraine can defend itself from this assault by purchasing that weaponry. So, I'm here to say to the Security Council, the United States remains as committed as it has ever been to his peaceful resolution to this dangerous conflict. But there will come a moment in which we will have to conclude that perhaps there is no interest in a peaceful resolution, and then the President has before him real options which he intends to pursue, as he has made clear today in some of the messages he has put out. So I strongly urge the Security Council, the member states here, and those who are not part of this as well, to do everything in their power, and including the Russian Federation, to do everything within their power, and the Ukrainian side, for that matter, as well, but all sides, to bring this war to an end before it becomes something that will last another three or four years, lead to more destruction, both economic and at the same time, loss of life and loss of property, loss of futures. This war needs to end, but if it does not, if there is no path to peace in the short term, then the United States and President Donald J Trump will take the steps necessary to impose costs for continued aggression.”
12. Wide shot, Security Council
13. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Dmitry Polyansky, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“Essentially, what is proposed, inter alia, is for us to turn a blind eye to the key of marionettes who are blind from mad with Russophobia and the permissiveness of their suzerains. They are not even considering rejecting the persecution of Russian citizens of Ukraine who are prohibited, contrary to the Constitution of the country, prohibited from speaking in their mother tongue and teaching their children in the mother tongue. And before our very eyes, people under threat of death and persecution are forced to deny their own identity, their moral, historical roots and values, and the so-called European democracies are clapping and cheering, basically alleging that Russia is trampling upon Ukrainian identity. This is a big lie, and we never had such an objective. It is being peddled by Kyiv’s tsar in order of fearmongering and stupefying the masses.”
14. Wide shot, Security Council
15. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Dmitry Polyansky, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“In Brussels and allied capitals, they continue - either through inertia or deliberately - to fan the flames of war continuously, without any justification. They are mendaciously portraying Russia as an enemy that will inevitably attack them as soon as it finishes with Ukraine. Today, the party of war has lost sleep trying to derail and undermine the results and understandings reached during the meeting of the Russian and US presidents in Alaska one month ago - generating hysteria, including in this chamber, in connection with unsubstantiated allegations about an incursion into Poland by alleged Russian drones and about the alleged overflight of Estonian airspace by Russian fighter jets.”
16. Wide shot, ambassadors at stakeout
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Andrii Sybiha, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ukraine:
“We stand united in our solidarity, and we jointly call on the Russian Federation to stop the killing and enter meaningful negotiations with Ukraine.”
18. Wide shot, ambassadors leaving stakeout area

Storyline

“We cannot afford to lose the current, fragile diplomatic momentum,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres told a high-level Security Council briefing on Ukraine, as he reiterated his appeal for “a full, comprehensive and sustainable ceasefire.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, “Each day Russia kills our people, destroys our cities and leaves no sign it will ever return to the principles of the UN Charter.” He also said, “If China truly wanted this war to stop, it could compel Moscow to end the invasion.”

Zelenskyy also called for building a “new security architecture” with Britain, France, and more than other 40 countries. He said Ukraine counts on the United States as a backstop, arguing that stronger joint air defenses would force Russia to halt its missile and drone strikes. “If there is no war in the sky, Russia can’t keep fighting on the ground,” he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco A. Rubio underscored Washington’s commitment to Ukraine, “The President is a very patient man. He's very committed to peace, but his patience is not infinite,” Rubio said, referring to Donald Trump. He noted the United States could impose “additional economic costs” on Russia or expand arms sales to Ukraine if diplomacy fails. “This war needs to end,” Rubio said.

Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative Dmitry Polyansky said Russian speakers in Ukraine face persecution and denial of their identity, while “so-called European democracies are clapping and cheering, basically alleging that Russia is trampling upon Ukrainian identity. This is a big lie, and we never had such an objective.”

At the stakeout before the Security Council meeti, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha reiterated Kyiv’s and allies’ demand for negotiations. “We stand united in our solidarity, and we jointly call on the Russian Federation to stop the killing and enter meaningful negotiations with Ukraine,” he said.