Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

International Affairs

We Represent, Protect, and Promote Ukraine and its highest value – People 🇺🇦

On 29 August, a Day of Mourning was declared in the Kyiv region for the victims of the massive Russian strike on the capital during the night of 28 August.

The Russian attack claimed at least 23 lives, including four children. Dozens more were injured, including children, and some remain missing. Many districts of Kyiv suffered broken windows and damaged infrastructure, and overall, more than 200 buildings were damaged.

We extend our deepest condolences to the families and close ones of all those whose lives were taken in this attack. Russia must be held accountable for every life cruelly cut short.

Aug 28, 2025

So far, Russia has shown zero interest in stopping the war. Zero real steps towards ending its terror against Ukrainians. Zero respect for international law.

While Russia keeps speaking about “peace”, its true actions bring more deaths, destruction, and loss. Russia is a terrorist state that commits war crimes and must be treated as such.

Tougher sanctions and more pressure must be applied now. Russia must be shown clearly that for its every disregard of peace efforts, there will be a strong response.

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When missiles and drones fall on sleeping cities, don’t look away. Russia’s strike on Kyiv on August 28 killed 15 people, including four children. Among them was a two-year old. The attack wounded more than 40. Search and rescue teams are still working at the sites. The world must respond to these crimes.

Video here :

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mfa-ukraine_when-missiles-and-drones-fall-on-sleeping-activity-7366788978114551808-MK-D?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&rcm=ACoAAAbzsX4Bd5uGRRvx_FE5Zra0KIdYj1g_WBs

EU Delegation and British Council buildings in Kyiv were hit by Russia’s attack on August 28.

A precision strike hit a building next to the EU Delegation in Kyiv. The explosion severely damaged the offices and a residential tower where many of its workers live.

Russia targeted diplomats – this is a direct violation of the Vienna Convention. This requires not only EU but global condemnation. Solidarity with our EU colleagues, ready to assist.

Overnight, British Council office was also heavily damaged by Russia. Overall, Russia killed at least 14 people and injured more than 40, including children.

Russia directly hits the EU Delegation and international cultural institutions standing with Ukraine. This was no accident – it is part of Putin’s war of terror, targeting civilians and those who support Ukraine.

💬 Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha commented on Russian strike on Kyiv on August 28:

“We insist on strong international reactions to Russia’s brutal strike on Kyiv and other cities. Russia killed at least 8 people, including a child, and targeted civilian infrastructure. Whatever Putin said in Alaska, his real actions reject diplomacy, dialogue, and peace efforts.

During the night strike, Russia also targeted diplomats—in direct breach of the Vienna convention. The EU mission to Ukraine was damaged. This requires not only the EU’s, but worldwide condemnation. We express solidarity with our EU colleagues and are ready to provide assistance.

This is a residential home in Kyiv ruined by Russia. People may still be under the rubble. This horrific sight proves that Putin will only stop when faced with pressure and strength. We urge public condemnation and action: new sanctions on Russia and strengthening for Ukraine.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine draws the attention of the international community to the decision of the Government of the Russian Federation to initiate the denunciation of European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

This step is, in fact, an admission of guilt – acknowledgment of Russia’s systemic practice of torture and its attempt to avoid accountability for gross violations of human rights. Today’s Russia is a territory of lawlessness and degradation of human dignity. The decision to withdraw from the Convention against Torture only consolidates this reality and firmly places Russia among those states for which human life and dignity mean nothing.

Unlike many other international treaties in this sphere, which rely primarily on declarations, reporting, or periodic reviews, the Convention contains a preventive mechanism of both regular and ad hoc visits to places of detention by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), aimed at directly assessing conditions of detention and treatment of individuals.

Since February 2022, Ukraine has consistently insisted on Russia’s exclusion from all cooperation mechanisms within the Council of Europe. This is based on the deep awareness that Russia has turned into a totalitarian state that systematically violates human rights and disregards the rule of law.

It was only the procedural provisions of the Convention, which do not envisage the forced expulsion of a state party, that allowed Russia to remain formally bound by this important international legal instrument. In practice, however, Russia was dismantling the Convention’s mechanism: it refrained from meaningful participation in the CPT’s work. It denied Committee experts access to its territory to monitor and document the situation regarding torture.

This fits into Russia’s broader pattern of blocking independent access, including denying the International Committee of the Red Cross full access to places of detention, including facilities holding prisoners of war. All this demonstrates Russia’s consistent efforts to “shut down” any channels of international oversight, conceal from the world the horrific truth about its system of torture chambers, and revive its notorious reputation as a prison empire.

It was Ukraine’s consistent political, legal, and public pressure in the Council of Europe and other international fora, systematic documentation of crimes, and mobilization of partners that deprived Russia of the opportunity to simulate “cooperation” with mechanisms for the prevention of torture and led to the formalization of its desire to avoid independent scrutiny.

A state that employs torture as an integral element of its policy cannot be a party to a Convention meant to unite rule-of-law states. Ukraine calls for the swift and effective use of international accountability mechanisms and urges the international community to act decisively and without delay.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine strongly condemn the presence of the Russian flag at the Venice Film Festival.

The festival has just started, and the first tragicomedy has been screened, featuring La Biennale itself. War crimes are being committed under this flag right now. Even today, Russia launched a brutal attack on Kyiv and other cities, killing at least 21 people – 4 children among them. But the organizers prefer to turn a blind eye and further ruin the festival’s reputation.

While Russia still enjoys the freedom to choose how it kills civilians in Ukraine, offering it an international cultural stage is not about freedom to create art but about hypocrisy, indifference, and supporting more terror.

The only thing the Venice Film Festival must do now is to make itself free from Russia’s presence and Russian flag.

NoStageForRussia while it wages its war against Ukraine.