UNITED NATIONS: Russia accused Ukraine on Saturday (Dec 30) of conducting a “terrorist attack” on civilians in Belgorod and using widely prohibited cluster munitions, making the claim during an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council requested by Moscow.
Russia said Ukraine attacked the city of Belgorod with missiles and rockets, killing at least 21 people and wounding dozens more, including 17 children, according to local authorities.
It was “a terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime against a civilian city”, Russia’s ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said.
“In order to increase the number of casualties of the terrorist attack they used cluster munitions,” he continued, claiming that Kyiv targeted a sports centre, an ice rink and a university.
“(It was a) deliberate, indiscriminate attack against a civilian target.”
“UN Security Council members have an opportunity to do their duty and assess the damage done to a Russian city, Belgorod,” Nebenzya added, holding up a QR code linking to what he said was footage of the attack’s aftermath.
Ukrainian allies quickly retorted, saying Russia had started the war.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the UN Serhii Dvornyk said that “as long as this war, unleashed by the Kremlin dictator, endures the toll of death and suffering will continue to grow”.
“As Ukraine is still recovering from yesterday’s horrendous strikes, new raids of Russian terror persist. Just hours ago … Russia again terrorised Kharkiv with its S-300 missiles hitting a residential area,” he said.
The United States representative John Kelly also put the blame squarely on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“This is (Putin’s) war, it is his choice,” he said.
“Russia could end this war today … We call for the protection of all civilians on all sides of every conflict.”
The British envoy Thomas Phipps said London “deeply” regrets any civilian losses, but also called out Moscow for having started the war with an invasion two years ago.
“There are hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers in Ukraine. There is not a single Ukrainian soldier in Russia,” he said.
“If Russia wants someone to blame for the deaths of Russians in this war, it should start with President Putin.”
Source: CNA
