Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya, firmly rejected any proposals to freeze the war against Ukraine during a UN Security Council meeting on 16 December 2024, stating that such arrangements would not suit Moscow under any circumstances.

Public debate about a possible freezing of the Russia-Ukraine war along the current contact line, with Western security guarantees for Ukraine, has intensified following Donald Trump’s election as the next US president.

“No schemes involving a freeze of the conflict will suit Russia,” Nebenzya declared, arguing that neither Ukraine nor its Western allies “can be trusted.” He claimed that any pause in fighting would merely serve to “give the Kyiv regime a much-needed breather on the battlefield to rearm and ‘lick its wounds.'”

Nebenzya outlined Russia’s “clear and logical” conditions for ending the war, which he said have “nothing in common” with proposals from Ukraine’s Western allies. These demands include recognition of Russian control over occupied territories, including Crimea, Sevastopol, and the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions, along with Ukraine adopting a “neutral, non-aligned, and non-nuclear status” and undergoing “demilitarization.”

The Russian diplomat categorically dismissed NATO’s involvement in any peace process. “The Alliance and the prospect of Ukraine’s membership in it have been part of the problem from the start, not part of the solution,” he stated.

During the same meeting, Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Serhii Kyslytsia, told the UN Security Council that Russia has conducted twelve large-scale attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in 2024 alone, launching approximately 1,100 cruise and ballistic missiles at these facilities.

Kyslytsia said at the meeting that “the deliberate targeting of civilians, children, and first responders is a war crime, which underscores the need for the international community to hold Russia accountable and to intensify efforts to protect Ukraine’s most vulnerable populations.”

Speaking about Russia’s position in the war, Kyslytsya told the Security Council that “Putin’s envoy may issue threats to this Council and indulge in the delusion of representing a superpower. However, the reality is totally different: Russia’s over-extended neo-imperial ambitions are steadily unraveling.”

Ukraine’s energy system hit by 1,100 Russian missiles in 2024, Ukraine’a UN envoy says

Ukraine maintains that recognition of its territorial integrity, sovereignty, and concrete security guarantees against future Russian aggression are essential components of any lasting peace agreement, even if de-facto the war will be frozen along the current contact line until diplomatic return of occupied territories becomes possible.

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