At a session of the UN Security Council, Ukraine's permanent representative Andriy Melnyk addressed the Russian representative directly with a message that rang through the hall: „You will never be able to hold the occupied lands. Never. So get out of Ukraine before it's too late.“

Melnyk added that Ukraine is ready for direct talks with Russia for a „just and lasting peace“ in line with the UN Charter, but that Ukrainian patience „is not unlimited“. He reminded that over 15 months Kyiv had constantly asked the Council for a ceasefire resolution - and that those appeals were ignored.

The words sound powerful, but the question that hangs over every such scene is as old as the organization itself: what can the Security Council actually do when one of the five veto powers is itself a party to the conflict? Speeches echo, the cameras roll, and the resolutions stay on paper.

Melnyk warned that Ukraine might reconsider its offer of a ceasefire along the current front lines - an offer that, as he put it, „is already a major compromise“. The Balkans know speeches like this at the UN from their own past. Powerful words before the world rarely change what happens on the ground; only those with power change that - and they usually stay silent.