On Tuesday morning, 17 June 2025, Russia once again unleashed a coordinated and barbaric barrage of missiles and drones on peaceful Ukrainian cities. These were not military installations or strategic targets. They were homes, hospitals, schools and apartment blocks. They were families asleep in their beds. They were civilians going about ordinary life – now trapped under rubble or mourning unspeakable loss. Dozens were killed, scores injured and entire communities once again devastated.
Wednesday, 18 June, was a national day of mourning in Ukraine. At the Ukrainian Embassy in Pretoria, as at all Ukrainian diplomatic missions across the globe, our flag flies at half-mast. And once again, we are forced to ask: how many more such days must Ukraine be made to endure? How many more lives must be lost before the world responds with urgency, and unity?
Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called on the international community to strongly condemn the latest massive combined missile and drone attack by Russia – one of the largest since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. During this assault, Russia launched 440 drones and 32 missiles. In Kyiv, dozens of civilians were killed and scores more wounded. In Odesa, at least one person lost their life. These numbers are not final. Rescue operations are still under way, and the death toll is likely to rise.
Russian forces once again targeted civilian and energy infrastructure, striking a kindergarten, residential buildings, educational institutions and industrial facilities. These are not accidental or errant strikes. They are deliberate acts of terror, executed with full knowledge of their civilian impact. Their only logic is cruelty and destruction.
This is a campaign of terror – systematic, deliberate and aimed squarely at civilian life. These attacks do not serve a legitimate military purpose. They are not about battlefield success. They are about terrorising an entire nation, exhausting its will and sending a signal to the world: Russia does not respect peace, law or human life.
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We are convinced that Vladimir Putin personally ordered this attack during the Group of Seven summit as a calculated gesture of defiance – to test the unity and resolve of the world’s leading democracies, and to project strength through brutality. It is a deliberate show of contempt for international diplomacy and peace efforts, especially those of the US.
Ukraine, by contrast, has shown its commitment to the pursuit of peace. We accepted the US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire. We sent a high-level delegation to engage with a low-level Russian counterpart. We proposed realistic and principled steps towards ending the war and expressed readiness for a direct meeting between leaders.
Russia responded with rejection, escalation and terror. It has dismissed peace overtures, issued ultimatums and avoided all opportunities for genuine dialogue. Instead, Moscow has chosen to intensify its aggression: bombing cities, targeting power grids and sowing chaos far from the frontlines. Russia has made it clear – it does not want peace.
This reality leaves the international community with a stark and urgent choice: continue to speak in platitudes, or act with principle and purpose.
The world must understand what is at stake. Russia’s war on Ukraine is not only about borders or regional influence. It is a direct assault on the international order – on the laws and norms that protect civilians in times of war, and that guarantee peace in times of diplomacy. If we allow Russia to bomb kindergartens and hospitals without consequence, what does that say to other would-be aggressors?
If we fail to respond decisively, the precedent will be clear: might makes right, and international law is optional. The next crater may not be in Kharkiv or Kyiv, but in another peaceful city, in another region of the world where a dictator believes they too can act without consequence.
That is why there is no alternative to increasing pressure on the aggressor. Sanctions must be strengthened – especially in the energy and banking sectors. Ukraine’s defence capabilities must be urgently enhanced. Only peace through strength will deter further aggression.
The principle of peace through strength must now guide the global response. It means confronting terror with resolve, not hesitation. It means isolating the aggressor, not enabling it. And it means finally acting with the understanding that every moment of delay costs innocent lives.
Every missile Russia fires is paid for with oil, gas or diamond revenue. Every civilian death is a failure of global resolve. Every half-measure emboldens the Kremlin and endangers the wider world.
Russia is not a partner in peace. It is the greatest threat to international peace and security. Countering Moscow, not cooperating with it, is the path towards stability – not only for Ukraine, but for every region threatened by authoritarian violence.
We are grateful to all our partners for the support they have provided – in weapons to protect our people, in aid to continue to exist. But we urge the leaders of the democratic world to take decisive, coordinated action.
This is not only about Ukraine. It is also about the rules that protect every nation. It is about what the world permits one country to do to another – and what kind of future that allows. It is about restoring respect for international law and the values enshrined in the United Nations Charter.
The war that Russia is waging is not just on Ukraine. It is also a war on human dignity, the global rules-based order and every civilian who believes they have a right to live in peace.
We owe it to those we mourn – and to the generations who follow – to ensure that this aggression is not met with indifference. The Russians are carving craters into our cities and holes into our hearts. Do these acts of terror have any meaning or purpose? I am convinced they do not. So why do they do it? Because they can. Because they know there will be no serious consequences for them on the global stage?
I wish the day of mourning would mark the moment the world would finally say: Enough. DM