Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the UN Andrii Melnyk used a Security Council briefing Tuesday to condemn Russia’s intensifying strikes on civilians, and urge member states to choke off foreign components feeding Russia’s war machine. Melnyk expressed gratitude to Denmark, Greece, France, Latvia and the UK for supporting Ukraine’s request to hold the urgent meeting. He also praised UN briefers for presenting evidence of “Russia’s crime of aggression, systematic war crimes, and crimes against humanity.”JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Before his main statement, Melnyk confronted the Russian delegation, accusing Moscow of playing the victim in a war it started. “Stop complaining about the suffering of Russians,” Melnyk said. “What Russia is witnessing is the boomerang of war, launched by Putin against Ukraine, and now returning with triple force.” He rejected claims that Ukraine targets civilians or uses Baltic states to launch drone operations, dismissing Moscow’s allegations about Ukrainian soldiers in Latvia as “fairy tales.” “Just stop lying,” Melnyk said. “Unlike Russia, Ukraine’s forces never target civilians. We only destroy military assets in full compliance with international humanitarian law.” ‘One of the Deadliest Periods’ for Civilians Melnyk warned that the first half of May had become “one of the deadliest periods” for Ukrainian civilians since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.