Security Council holds emergency meeting on attacks in Belgorod, Russia

At least 18 civilians were killed and more than 100 injured in an attack on Belgorod, said Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General in the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (UN DPPA), briefing the Council on the latest developments.

Russia had called for the emergency meeting following reported attacks on Belogorod. Located about 40 km north of the Ukrainian border, Belgorod is home to more than 300,000 residents.

The emergency session was held less than 24 hours after the Council convened a meeting on Ukraine following large scale attacks by Russia against Ukrainian towns and cities.

‘We unequivocally condemn attacks’

“We unequivocally condemn all attacks on cities, town and villages, in Ukraine and in the Russian Federation,” Mr. Khiari said. “Attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure violate international humanitarian law, are unacceptable and must end now.”

He said that even as the Council meets today, reports of new air raid alerts were also coming in from across Ukraine, including in the Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Cherkasy, Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

Indeed, just a few hours ago, the city of Kharkiv was reportedly attacked, resulting in civilians injured and civilian infrastructure damaged, he said.

Civilian deaths in Belgorod

Mr. Khiari said attacks on locations in the Belgorod city centre reportedly resulted in damage to civilian infrastructure, including the regional government office and the medical college of Belgorod State University.

“The strikes were reported as among the deadliest cross-border attacks on the Russian Federation since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, launched in violation of the UN Charter and international law,” he said.

At the same time, he said, the Russian military authorities reported separate overnight Ukrainian drone attacks in the Bryansk, Oryol, Kursk and Moscow regions of Russia.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities reported new overnight Russian drone attacks targeting the Kherson region, he said.

“As the war continues, we will see more Ukrainian and Russian civilians killed and injured,” he said. “Protection of civilians must be the main priority. The fighting and bloodshed must cease, the war must come to an end.”

United Nations

Vassily Nebenzia (centre), Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Russia, addresses the Security Council.

Russia: EU complicit in ‘terrorist attack’

Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the city centre of Belgorod was struck with missiles and attacks using prohibited cluster munitions as well as Czech-produced Vampir missiles. Targets included a sports centre, ice skating rink and a university.

“This is a deliberate act of terrorism,” he said, requesting Czechia and other Western States to account for where their assistance is going.

“There’s no use pretending,” he said. “The European Union countries are complicit in the crimes committed by the gang in Kyiv.”

Council members: Civilians should not be a target

Council members roundly condemned attacks targeting civilians.

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