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STORY: UN / UKRAINE
TRT: 06:24
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / RUSSIAN / NATS
DATELINE: 28 MAY 2026, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
28 MAY 2026, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Med shot, Secretary-General António Guterres at the Council dais
4. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The large-scale strikes launched by the Russian Federation across Ukraine on 23-24 May – and the prospect of further such attacks – underscore the gravity of this moment. Since February 2022, more than 15,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine – nearly 800 children among them, as verified by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Reports from the Russian Federation indicate a growing number of civilian casualties – including children.”
5. Wide shot, Council
6. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The front line is virtually frozen with swarms of drones inflicting heavy casualties. And civilian infrastructure is being destroyed on a vast scale – especially energy infrastructure. This could go on and on and on. But the direction of the war – the escalation and the intensification that we are witnessing – risks to get out of control.”
7. Wide shot, Council
8. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“What is needed now is de-escalation – immediate and sustained. What is needed now is a full and unconditional ceasefire. What is needed now is more diplomacy. What is needed is to create the conditions for a just, lasting and comprehensive peace – in line with the Charter of the United Nations, international law, and UN resolutions.”
9. Med shot, Russian Ambassador Anna M. Evstigneeva
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations:
“On the night of 23 to 24 May, the armed forces of the Russian Federation launched a massive strike across Ukraine, reportedly deploying as many as 90 long-range missiles and 600 drones. Among the weapons used was the so-called “Oreshnik” intermediate-range ballistic missile, which targeted the city of Bila Tserkva in central Ukraine.”
11. Med shot, Guterres and Council President
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations:
“At least five people were reported killed and at least 112 others injured across Ukraine, with the heaviest toll in Kyiv. The city’s more than two million residents endured over seven hours of explosions, impacting dozens of residential buildings.”
13. Med shot, Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Melnyk
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations:
“Russian Federation authorities have also reported rising civilian casualties from alleged Ukrainian strikes. On 25 May, two civilians were reportedly killed in the Belgorod and Bryansk regions.”
15. Med shot, Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya addressing Council
16. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“On the night of May 22nd, the Kyiv regime again shown its terrorist nature by inflicting a barbaric targeted strike on the Starobelsk Pedagogical College and dormitory using 16 UAVs. This tragedy claimed the lives of 21 people, primarily young girls, and 44 people were injured.”
17. Med shot, Nebenzya addressing Council
18. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“Why does the death of minors in one place become a reason for loud statements and condemnations, whereas the death of children in Starobelsk is met with silence? Here you have another vivid manifestation of the double standards and hypocrisy of the West. However, this act of terror could not and did not go unpunished. Mr. president, on May 24th, the Russian Armed Forces launched a massive attack on military command and control facilities, air bases and enterprises of the military industrial complex of Ukraine.”
19. Med shot, Nebenzya addressing Council
20. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“Strikes will be carried out, both at decision-making centres and command posts. And since the above facilities are dispersed throughout Kyiv, we warn foreign citizens, including the staff of diplomatic missions and offices of international organizations, about the need to leave the city as soon as possible, and residents of the Ukrainian capital not to approach the military and administrative infrastructure of the Zelensky regime.”
21. Wide shot, Melnyk addressing Council
22. SOUNDBITE (English) Andriy Melnyk, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ukraine:
“The Russian Federation's own Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a list identifying the 21 alleged victims by name and date of birth a list. It must be stressed that has not been independently verified, but even according to that list that we see, every single individual named was an adult. Remarkably, not a single one was a child. In other words, the same institution that sends the Russian representative to sit in this chamber has, through its own documentation, which is unverified -I have to underline it once again - refuted his central claim. This tells us everything we need to know about the credibility of Starobelsk fake legend.”
23. Wide shot, Melnyk addressing Council
24. SOUNDBITE (English) Andriy Melnyk, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ukraine:
“The Starobelsk narrative is a textbook example of cynical Russia's propaganda, a construct so evidently fabricated that it is effectively stitched together with wide threads of lies and drawn out of thin air. We are seeing yet another attempt by the Russian Federation, and by the broader machinery of Mr. Putin's system of disinformation, to cynically invent and construct a new victimhood narrative.”
25. Wide shot, Melnyk addressing Council
26. SOUNDBITE (English) Andriy Melnyk, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ukraine:
“Ukraine calls again on our European and our American partners to multiply their air defence assistance, at least tenfold. The alarming new scale of Russia's aerial terror requires a response of an entirely different magnitude. We need to better protect the skies over our cities. We need to better protect and save civilian lives.”
27. Wide shot, end of Council meeting
Secretary-General António Guterres today (28 May) warned about the direction of war in the Ukraine and said, “the escalation and the intensification that we are witnessing – risks to get out of control.”
Guterres told the Security Council that “the large-scale strikes launched by the Russian Federation across Ukraine on 23-24 May – and the prospect of further such attacks – underscore the gravity of this moment.”
He noted that - as verified by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights – “since February 2022, more than 15,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine – nearly 800 children among them,” while “reports from the Russian Federation indicate a growing number of civilian casualties – including children.”
The Secretary-General told the Security Council that “the front line is virtually frozen with swarms of drones inflicting heavy casualties. And civilian infrastructure is being destroyed on a vast scale – especially energy infrastructure.”
He said, “what is needed now is de-escalation – immediate and sustained. What is needed now is a full and unconditional ceasefire. What is needed now is more diplomacy. What is needed is to create the conditions for a just, lasting and comprehensive peace – in line with the Charter of the United Nations, international law, and UN resolutions.”
Also briefing the Council, the Assistant Secretary-General, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, Khaled Khiari, said, “on the night of 23 to 24 May, the armed forces of the Russian Federation launched a massive strike across Ukraine, reportedly deploying as many as 90 long-range missiles and 600 drones. Among the weapons used was the so-called “Oreshnik” intermediate-range ballistic missile, which targeted the city of Bila Tserkva in central Ukraine.”
Khiari said, “at least five people were reported killed and at least 112 others injured across Ukraine, with the heaviest toll in Kyiv,” adding that “the city’s more than two million residents endured over seven hours of explosions, impacting dozens of residential buildings.”
He pointed out that Russian Federation authorities “have also reported rising civilian casualties from alleged Ukrainian strikes,” and on 25 May, “two civilians were reportedly killed in the Belgorod and Bryansk regions.”
Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya told the Council that on the night of 22 May, “the Kyiv regime again shown its terrorist nature by inflicting a barbaric targeted strike on the Starobelsk Pedagogical College and dormitory using 16 UAVs,” and said, “this tragedy claimed the lives of 21 people, primarily young girls, and 44 people were injured.”
Nebenzya said, “this act of terror could not and did not go unpunished,” and described how on 24 May “the Russian Armed Forces launched a massive attack on military command and control facilities, air bases and enterprises of the military industrial complex of Ukraine.”
He said, “strikes will be carried out, both at decision-making centres and command posts. And since the above facilities are dispersed throughout Kyiv, we warn foreign citizens, including the staff of diplomatic missions and offices of international organizations, about the need to leave the city as soon as possible, and residents of the Ukrainian capital not to approach the military and administrative infrastructure of the Zelensky regime.”
For his part, Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Melnyk said the Russian Federation's Ministry of Foreign Affairs had published a list identifying “21 alleged victims by name and date of birth a list’ and added that according to that list, “every single individual named was an adult.”
Melnyk said, “remarkably, not a single one was a child. In other words, the same institution that sends the Russian representative to sit in this chamber has, through its own documentation, which is unverified - I have to underline it once again - refuted his central claim. This tells us everything we need to know about the credibility of Starobelsk fake legend.”
The Ukrainian Ambassador said, “the Starobelsk narrative is a textbook example of cynical Russia's propaganda, a construct so evidently fabricated that it is effectively stitched together with wide threads of lies and drawn out of thin air.”
He called on European and American partners “to multiply their air defence assistance, at least tenfold.”
Melnyk said, “the alarming new scale of Russia's aerial terror requires a response of an entirely different magnitude. We need to better protect the skies over our cities. We need to better protect and save civilian lives.”
