On March 23, 2026, in New York, during a UN Security Council session on Ukraine, something important happened beyond the usual diplomatic routine.

Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Andrii Melnyk, did not simply answer Russia’s representative. He went after one of Moscow’s oldest and most politically useful narratives: the claim that Ukrainians and Russians are somehow a single historical people, and that Russia therefore has the right to speak for Ukraine’s past, present, and future.

This was not just a sharp exchange for headlines. It was a deliberate attempt to break a story that Moscow has been selling for years — the story that Ukraine is merely an offshoot, a deviation, or a temporary misunderstanding of Russian history.

This was not a debate about the past alone

Melnyk referred directly to remarks made earlier by Russia’s UN representative, Vasily Nebenzya, who had once again repeated the well-worn line about the alleged “historical unity” of Ukrainians and Russians. According to Melnyk, Nebenzya had also tried to invoke Kyivan Rus in support of that narrative.

Melnyk answered in blunt terms:

“He even mumbled something about Kyivan Rus, which we Ukrainians allegedly sold for 30 pieces of silver… Allow me to set the historical facts straight.”

“He even mumbled something about........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)