Vassily Nebenzia (Russian Federation) on the strike on the college in Starobelsk - Press Conference

Hello, everyone.
Thank you for coming for the press conference of Permanent Representative Vasily Noveny on the Ukrainian Srcontabk.
Ambassador will make a statement.
We will show a couple of videos.
After that, some of you will be able to ask the questions.
Vasily, the floor is yours.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you for coming, finding the time.
To do it, as you know, on May 22nd, the Ukrainian armed forces launched a deliberate strike on a college and dormitory in Starbinsk Lugnsk People's Republic at Russia's request literally the day before.
Who was that? At Russia's request, the UN Security Council convened for an emergency meeting on Friday, but we wanted to give you more details on what happened.
86 students aged 14 to 19 were with one staff member were living in the dormitory.
These were children and teenagers.
They were not on the front line, they were numbed, and they neither participated or could possibly have participated in the hostilities.
They were asleep.
It was at that moment when the strike happened, turning an ordinary night in a student dormitory into a nightmare.
According to the latest reports, 21 people, mostly young girls were killed and 63 students were injured in this horrific attack.
Many of the wounded remain hospitalized, some in critical condition.
The target was not a command center, a fortified position, a weapons depot, or military barracks, but the civilian facility.
There were no military installations, government offices, security services facilities near the dormitory.
The deliberate nature of the attack is further confirmed by the fact that 16 UAVs targeted the same location in three successive ways, causing the five story dormitory building to collapse down to the second floor.
It's yet another glaring manifestation of the Nazi terrorist character of the Kyiv regime, which does not hesitate to kill minors in cold blood.
Russian investigative authorities have opened the criminal case on charges of terrorism, although the responsible will be identified and will face inevitable and severe punishment.
At the UN Security Council meeting on Friday, we once again heard the habitual set of excuses routinely used whenever the West seeks to shield the Kyiv regime, and I quote, Further are the quotations.
There is no independent verification.
UN representative do not have access to the site.
We cannot confirm the authenticity of the information.
Russia is exploiting these for propaganda purposes and so on and so forth.
The Cynicism displayed by Western delegations was really staggering.
The permanent representative of Denmark stated that it was difficult to comment on statements made by the Russian Federation until they are independently verified before effectively suggesting that unlike Ukraine, there is no free media in Russia or in the occupied territories.
When asked whether they felt any shame, our Western colleagues, we received the response that has become emblematic of the moral decline of the European diplomacy.
We do not feel ashamed.
The permanent representative of Latvia went even further calling the strike on the college a provocation and the Kremlin fake, thus denying the very existence of the destroyed dormitory, the students, the rescue efforts and the grief of their families.
Equally appalling was the statement by the representative of the Ky regime.
To remove any doubt on May 24th, the Russian site invited more than 50 foreign journalists from 19 countries, including Austria, Brazil, UK, Hungary, Venezuela, Germany, Greece, Spain, Italy, Qatar, China, Cuba, Lebanon, the Emirates, Pakistan, United States, Turkey, Finland, and France to visit the site of the tragedy in Strabisk so as to see with their own eyes what happened there.
As a result, they acknowledged the accuracy of the information we have presented.
Some Western media outlets, however, preferred to continue speculations regarding the unverified claims without ever approaching the scene itself.
Tokyo bars journalists from participating in the visit.
The BBC officially declined the invitation while CNN representatives were reportedly on vacation.
The video footage that you'll see shortly features victims and witnesses speaking about the tragedy.
Their accounts eloquently confirmed that the facilities were strictly civilian in nature, no matter how much the representatives of the Kyiv regime claim that the strike targeted military site in Sbirsk.
Firsthand eyewitness accounts completely refute their claims, please through the video.
It's been written literally the day before the tragedy.
We support each other.
We don't give up.
This was one of the psychology lessons.
The girl trapped under the concrete slabs isn't talking about herself, but about her friend.
Both were rescued.
O Kovala is already feeling better.
It was her moaning under the rubble.
The St College dormitory, classrooms are in the same building, bunk beds, rooms that miraculously survived.
Many people fled from here in a hurry, some barefoot.
It was still dark.
Ukrainian militants didn't miss, they deliberately targeted the educational institution.
One after another, several drones hit the same buildings.
It's obvious this isn't a military facility.
This is what the children made with their own hands.
These are the ones who were getting an education, dreaming of becoming elementary school teachers.
Here's one of the classrooms which is set up exactly like a class for young children.
In this specific area, they taught the students exactly how to interact with very little kids.
Here, there are many colorful toys, educational toys, and a variety of interesting books.
These are the things used by both elementary school and preschool teachers.
They taught how to care for children and to be compassionate.
When Ukrainian drones struck at night, the kids did their best to save each other.
Elena, a teacher helped the children leave the dormitory for a safe place that night.
Adults who lived nearby also rushed to help.
Constantin Dbvoyledveral teenagers out of the fire but was himself wounded by the next explosion.
This would be.
How much would give the last work if you.
It will pay.
Welcome my address.
Today the authorities of the Luhansk Republic published a list of the deceased, 17 names.
There are more victims.
The identification process is ongoing.
A air raid alert has been declared again.
The search and rescue operation is temporarily suspended, but it resumes immediately as soon as the threat passes.
We see destruction.
It's all over the building.
But some parts, yes, have survived.
Several people are in hospitals in serious condition.
One had to be sent to Moscow for treatment.
Elena Kupova, the mother of Maxim, the young man with severe injuries.
Which of the country was.
It's an immense tragedy, and indescribable pain for people who have lost their children, their closest loved ones.
Not everyone is ready to speak.
The souls are torn apart, but some in the West have already called this pain a lie, a fake supposedly claiming that Ukrainian drones attacked the military.
Investigators from the investigative committee are carefully collecting all physical evidence.
This will form the basis of a case on a war crime.
Among the ruined walls, there are only books, beds, and desks left.
An ordinary college became the target for Ukrainian criminals, where certificates and photographs from her previous life still hang on the walls of the classrooms.
Just ordinary cheerful kids and teachers.
For many after this tragedy, life will never be the same.
For many, there is no life left at all.
19-year-old Irina Dvotikova, the main activist of her group, bright and kind.
This is how her friends remember her.
Just a couple of days ago, she won the title of Miss Audience choice on the college stage and took first place in the beauty of the faculty contest.
19-year-old Des Duke was the life of the student group.
She was raised by her grandmother.
She lost her parents and wanted to raise many children herself.
19-year-old Aa Pogrevnio was born in the village of Belkkino.
She came to Sobels to get an education.
They are beautiful and talented.
Now their dreams will never come true.
Their dreams were shattered by the attack of war criminals, Ukrainian militants.
This crime will not go unpunished.
The question goes, where does this brutality come from and what is the cause? The answer is simple.
It is the revenge on the people of Lugansk, people's Republic who choose Russia.
Zelensky is actually killing his own former compatriots.
I would like to emphasize that this one more time, he is exterminating his former fellow citizens for refusing to live under his neo Nazi rule.
How can he hypothritically argue that people matter more than territories when he's responsible for such terrorist attacks? We'll play the following footage on mute because it's simply too heartbreaking to watch and hear.
You can find it among the materials from the press conference which are accessible via the QR code.
On the screens before you, you can clearly see just how much suffering Kyiv has brought upon these people.
Western capitals may speak endlessly about children's rights, but their reaction to the tragedy Srebsk shows that in their political worldview, children have long been divided into convenient and inconvenient victims.
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 Kyiv regime, The tragedy disappears behind caveats, doubts, references to context.
This is not merely double standards.
This is a moral failure and complete disgrace.
The Zelensky regime and its western accomplices supplying the Ukrainian armed forces with weapons for committing crimes against our people have shown to the whole world their rule disdain, their rule disdain to the norms of international humanitarian law.
They are openly trampling upon the Geneva Conventions and there are additional protocols that regulate the protection of the civilian population during conflicts.
The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child and some other prominent international acts of particular concern is the conduct of the UN Secretariat which has once again chosen intentionally vague language in order to avoid offending the Kyiv regime by calling his pay this pay.
We are told that the organization lacks access to the territory and therefore cannot confirm the details of what happened.
Despite us repeatedly confirming to the Secretariat they are permitted to visit frontline areas, but only via Russian territory due to security concerns, the UN has consistently refused citing its respect for Ukraine's territorial integrity.
This is a political choice by the Secretariat, not any unwillingness on our part to provide access.
Anyone wishing to visit Ugan's people's Republic, the Neves people's Republic, Zapoji or Ks regions are welcome to do so via the territory of the Russian Federation.
It is not our whim.
It's done for security reasons, as I said, we cannot guarantee the security of all those who would like to cross through the line of combat.
Let me underline this once again, the absence of access does not remove the UN's responsibility to provide an objective assessment of a strike on a civilian educational facility and dormitory housing teenagers.
We regularly provide the UN Secretariat with materials documenting crimes committed by the Ky regime against civilians yet Secretary-General B chooses to ignore them.
If additional materials are required, we are ready to submit them too.
Tellingly, 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 sc invasion.
Organization quickly finds the right language, including the emotional condemnations, the political emphasis and the calls for action.
Yet in the case of Srebsk, we once again hear that same biased muted and lukewarm language that does little to conceal the selective nature of this approach.
The contrast becomes even more obvious when recalling other cases in which the Secretariat and new instructor showed no such restraint.
Example is the butcher provocation, which has become a textbook case for hypocrisy and double standards.
For several years, the Russian side has requested secretary's assistance in obtaining the list of those killed in Butch but without success.
Earlier this month, Russian Foreign Minister Serge Larov sent a letter to António Guterres containing specific questions regarding the Buch accident and we are awaiting.
Detailed and elaborate answers.
So far, however, we continue to see evasion, delays, unwillingness to examine anything that could undermine the version of events convenient for the collective west.
The same selectivity is evident in humanitarian incidents in territories controlled by Kev.
When the UN humanitarian convo was struck near Villa Zorko, the Secretariat promptly issued a statement without establishing the fact or investigation.
Relying solely on claims made by the Ukrainian side, it placed full responsibility on the armed forces of the Russian Federation.
A similar situation occurred with the Ukrainian Jew Plisky humanitarian mission.
This raises an obvious question.
Why is the US Secretaria to speak firmly regarding situation in Ukraine yet suddenly hides behind the phrases like, we don't have access when it comes to the strikes on the Russian territories, including ters.
Such an approach is clearly politically selective.
It undermines trust to the United Nations and demonstrates that universal principles for the protection of civilians have been turned into political tools used against those the Western self proclaimed democracies oppose.
When children in Bs are kill, the West speaks of unverified information, but when similar accusations are directed at Russia, the presumption of guilt appears immediately and the entire machinery of political pressure begins operating without hesitation, doubt or demands for access.
The Kyiv regime does not exist in a vacuum.
Its numerous atrocities are fueled by the certainty that after every crime, its Western sponsors will either remain silent, cast doubt on the obvious, or simply blame Russia instead.
This approach effectively encourages further attacks on civilians as those responsible know they will not be held accountable.
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.
The man made tragedy in Srebk cannot be erased through diplomatic maneuvering, media silence, or references to unverified information.
This premeditated the crime is further evidence of the lengths to which the Kyiv regime is prepared to go to intimidate civilians and of how low its Western backers are willing to sink to preserve a narrative that suits them.
In response to this and many other multiple crimes of the Kyiv regime, the opposes of the Russian Federation are beginning to launch consistent and systematic strikes on the Ukrainian defense industry enterprises in Kyiv, including facilities dedicated to designing, manufacturing, programming, and preparing drones for operation.
The Ukrainian militants use these drones with the help of NATO specialists who supply components and provide reconnaissance and target acquisition data.
These tracks will target decision making centers and command posts.
As the aforementioned facilities are scattered across Kyiv, we are urging foreign citizens, including diplomatic and International Organization personnel to leave the city as soon as possible.
We further urge residents of the Ukrainian capital to refrain from approaching military and administrative structures, infrastructure, facilities belonging to the Zelensky regime.
And all the objective of the special military operation will be achieved.
The Neo Nazi who are spreading terror and cases across this long suffering land will be destroyed.
I think you.
Any questions? Thank you for the statement and the first question it, please.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Mr.
Ambassador, on behalf of the United Nations Correspondent Association for doing this briefing.
My name is Edith Lettera from the Associated Press.
The world is witnessing an escalation.
We're seeing more intense Russian attacks on Ukraine, including Kyiv and more widespread attacks by Ukraine in Russia.
What is the prospect for ending this conflict? We see that the Trump administration is focused now on Iran.
Are there any new negotiations planned on this conflict between Russia and Ukraine? Thank you.
I will start with the first part of what you were saying about the escalation.
The usual narrative by our Western colleagues, not just in the Security Council, but elsewhere, of the Ukrainians themselves, in particular, by the current Ukrainian PR who excels in that telling us that Russia is stalling on the front.
It's not moving.
The gains that it achieved during the four years are minimal.
Ukraine's victory is imminent.
Russia will collapse a in a month or two, et cetera, all these, how would I put it diplomatically language? The problem is or rather the answer to it is that we deliberately refrained from making major strikes on Ukrainian territory, specifically because these are the people who live in the Do you recall any strikes on the major cities in Ukraine or in Kyiv except for the military infrastructure that we did earlier? These people are not foreign to us and we have mercy on them.
But I mean, the Kyiv regime won't stop before anything to go like it did in Stresk It was really a disgrace to hear what they were saying after we called that meeting to demonstrate what happened there and how deliberately it was planned and executed.
On the talks with the Ukrainian side, There are no talks.
We put our conditions forward.
We set what is the real talks.
It's not the freezing over the front line, which Kyiv desperately wants, despite the message that the Ukrainian PR is sending.
I asked him rhetoric question at the last meeting of the Security Council.
If you are so confident in your imminent victory, why are you calling for the immediate ceasefire? Then do it.
It doesn't match with the military objectives on the battlefield, your narrative and the narrative by your authorities.
Nothing meaningful is happening.
We put our conditions forward.
We said that before we achieve whatever agreement, the The core reasons why the whole thing started should be eliminated and we should be able to talk about them.
That is, they're very well known.
This is the NATO membership, this is the threat that Ukraine poses to Russia, the neo Nazi nature of the regime, the persecution of the Russian speaking population in the country and the whole lot of these things.
And we were very close to achieving that before Butcher happened, if you remember, in 2022, when Boris Johnson rushed to Kyiv and basically bat Zelensky to sign up to sign anything, encouraging him to continue, ensuring him that the West will never leave Ukraine and that the victory is just behind the door, et cetera It all collapsed then, but now we don't see any willingness on the part of the regime to participate in whatever negotiations.
Yes, President Trump indeed, I think quite genuinely wanted and continues to that still wants this conflict to be finished, but the problem is that you cannot finish this conflict before addressing the root causes why it started.
Indeed, the Trump administration now is busy with other matters.
We all know which perhaps the Russian Ukrainian conflict is not on their priority list.
There were talks that Kushner and Witv would go to Moscow shortly.
As far as I know, they haven't been there yet and I don't know whether they are coming shortly or not either.
Please go ahead.
Yeah.
Thank you so much, Mr.
Ambassador Abdel Hamida from the Arabic Daily Al-Quds Arabi.
Palestinians are used to this double standard.
When one Israeli is wounded, then there are so many statement.
But if thousands of Palestinians are killed, then it's collateral damage or self defense.
But my question is about the double standard and this unjustified unlawful attack on Iran.
I haven't seen flagrant cases of condemnation of this.
They just talk about condemning Iran by attacking the Gulf.
But I didn't see reference to the root causes of what happened in the Gulf, which is the unlawful the reference by whom? By the UN officials and many delegation and there were meetings of the Security Council, even a resolution 28 17 which condemned the Iranian attack on the Gulf, but they didn't even mention the original flagrant case of aggression on Iran by the US and Israel.
We have mentioned it.
We are addressing the root causes of what is happening.
What is now happening in Iran all the time.
We are saying that the one resolution we vetoed together with China exactly because it didn't address the root causes.
Putin the cart before the horse.
Now the Gulf countries whom we sympathize with, they are all our friends.
And, you know, the straight of our most the attacks on these countries.
We condemned the attacks on the civilian infrastructure.
But, you know, without mentioning or addressing how it all started, this resolution becomes one sided and misses the point, basically.
That's why we are not very much enthusiastic to adopt it.
The freedom of navigation is very important.
We are suffering from the lack of freedom of navigation ourselves because our our ships are often stopped arbitrarily in the open seas by our former European partners.
We have a resolution draft that we prepared together with China on that issue, but the Gulf countries are a are focused on the Arabs thing.
I understand it's important to them.
The narrative is we're telling you are condemning the aggressor.
They said, we were prepared to condemn the aggressor, but before we did it, Iran already at us.
I was Iran, of course.
Iran was warning in advance that had this started, it would attack the military infrastructure that the US built in those countries.
I'm telling them you are the hostages of the American policy in the Middle East.
We were saying long time ago that if something like that would happen, you will inevitably you will get into this crisis whether you want, whether you are willing or not.
But indeed, the UN is again lukewarm on addressing the root causes.
The IA Director General is also he's trying to evade the subject, but the subject is simple.
It is unprovoked aggression by the two countries on Iran on the false pretext.
We all know.
Denise, Sasima Denise against or Vasil Alex right here.
I would like to ask whether there are plans to seek a UN led international investigation and do you believe an international objective assessment of the tragedy is still possible today? I think I know the answer in advance.
There will be no UN investigation of this strategy because of these things to which I referred to in my presentation, that they will say, yeah, but this is the sovereign territory of of Ukraine.
We have to respect the territorial integrity.
We cannot only enter this territory from the Ukrainian side and so on and so forth.
We had this similar experience with that, a prison that was destroyed and many people died there in Alenia.
We had the same experience and nothing happened.
Besides, you know, in Ukraine, there are a few commissions which they call independent, but their independence raises a lot of questions, at least with me.
Same with the UN, some of them are bearing a name.
UN human rights mission in Ukraine, for example, and who is supplying the data to that mission? We know who.
I'm skeptical about the UN led investigation of the tragedy.
If I put it shortly.
Please.
Hello.
My name is S from German television and radio.
During the recent drone and missile attacks on Kyiv, the ARD studio was severely damaged.
What's your statement to that? I look, I'm not trying to cover up behind my ignorance of the incident, but indeed, I didn't hear about that particular incident.
Was it already after the announcement when did it take place? It took place on the big attacks in the night between the 23rd and 24th and there were actually six media outlets who were really damaged and the ARD Public Broadcasting studio in Kyiv was.
Well, the easiest answer I can provide.
I don't know the details is that the media studios were not the target of the attacks.
There should have been something around which was not related to media.
But look, these are hostilities and things happen, and we do not deny that some civilian people are losing their lives in these hostilities.
That's true and some damage is caused to the infrastructure.
But, I stress it all the time.
We stressed all the time, that our leadership is stressing all the time.
We do not target civilians deliberately.
Unlike what the Ukrainian armed forces are doing, not just in Sbirsk which were discussing today, but they were doing that on a regular basis even before that.
You know, I was referring to at one of the meetings, the previous meeting on Ukraine that they have a system of these drone operators who are deliberately targeting civilian objects because this became a kind of a game because for the targets that they destroy, they get promoted in the drone in the drone upgrading or whatever.
And that, you know, that completely makes the point different.
They are interested in, you know, hitting as many civilian objects as they can.
They they pursue the civilian cars, for example, et cetera, because this becomes a computer game, they were getting promoted for it.
There's a system of upgrade of the drone facilities that they can get for the victims that they can find in the open field.
So this is the difference between I mean, I'm not saying that the war is a good thing.
I'm not enjoying it.
But I mean, in this kind of hostilities, yes, there are civilian civilian victims, but the difference is that we never go after civilians deliberately.
Thank you, Mr.
Ambassador.
My name is Susan Tahirai from We on.
Does Russia believe that the current US Iran talks are genuinely moving towards some kind of peace or does Russia believe that more military action is inevitable? Also, can you talk to us about the possibility of Iran transferring some of its enriched raniium into Russia? Has there been any talk regarding that? Would you welcome that? Thank you.
I would like to believe that the talks that there are no talks per se.
These are indirect exchange of papers which one or the other side is studying.
They are not agreeing, but we hear a some comments that, you know, they agreed on that, they didn't agree on that, but the deal is closed.
I mean, whatever the deal and if Iran accepts it, and that can be accepted by the US, by the warring parties, we would welcome it.
But that is the Iranian decision, not ours or not the US.
The talks suppose that the sides take decisions or make a deal which would satisfy both sides.
Now, But the alternative to the strike de escalation is something that we of course we would like to prevent because it is fraught with the consequences, not just for Iran, but for the whole region, which is already in a very bad shape.
The second part of your question, I uranium enrichment material.
We said that we are ready.
That's a sovereign decision by Iran.
If Iran would ask us to take that material to Russia and if that is a part of a deal, why not? Yes.
We've said it long time before, but so far we are not there.
We are not at the stage when Iran said anything on it.
Thank you, Ambassador Farshamiri with the Associated Press.
I want to talk about both the resolutions that you and China have on freedom of navigation and then the Bahrain resolution.
Has there been any discussions about when those two would come for a vote? Then separately today, you mentioned during the Security Council session that the Iranian ambassador I'm sorry, the Iranian foreign minister was denied a visa.
Did the Iranians tell you that themselves? Because the UN had said that they're not aware of that and then the US has not responded? I was not talking about Iranian foreign minister not receiving a visa, although it is in itself a bit strange to me because I think the host country could have used an opportunity of the Iranian foreign minister being in the States since they are in the process of whatever indirect negotiations.
I was talking about the Russian deputy foreign minister who was denied a visa to participate in the Chinese signature event without any plausible explanation.
The person who is responsible in the foreign ministry for the UN affairs.
Would you qualify or treat it? How could you explain it? Of course, we will not leave it at this stage.
We will follow up on the case.
But I said when I spoke that this is not just an insult to us.
It's an insult to the Chinese presidency because the Chinese presidency was asking the highest possible level of participation.
Then sorry, the resolutions.
Yeah, exactly the same question I'm asking my golf friends.
They didn't come with any definitive answer yet.
There was some talks about this week, but I'm not sure about this week because we have the Muslim holiday tomorrow and the week is expiring.
They didn't announce the date.
If you maybe the last question, Alex, please.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, Ambassador Alexei with Ros News Agency.
I have a follow up on Starbil strike.
Are you ready to invite your Security Council colleagues to visit Starbils? Thank you.
I'm ready to invite my Security Council colleagues anytime.
I'm not sure that all of the Security Council colleagues would answer my invitation.
During our last meeting, I was inviting the Ukrainian PR to Russia to make sure himself how bad the shape of the Russian economy is and how it is decaying, how soon it will collapse.
But he specifically answered to that that under no circumstances, even if Russia would come on the knees to beg Kyiv not to There's a long piece of statement to beg us to beg Kyiv mercy, he would never go to Russia.
That was his answer, but him separately, but my security council colleagues, some of them would like to go perhaps.
But for that to be a Security Council visit, you need to have all the 15 ambassadors.
You cannot pick and choose between the council members.
Then it will not be the Security Council member visit.
Besides, I'm ready to invite again.
I'm not sure that all of them will accept the invitation.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Thank you for your time.
I know that Foreign Minister Wani is somewhere around.
Thank you.