UNITED NATIONS, May 6. /TASS/. Russia’s envoy to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said Russian diplomats at an informal Arria-formula UN Security Council meeting on Friday presented evidence of crimes by Ukrainian military and nationalist units, such as interference with evacuation of civilians.

He said Ukraine and its Western sponsors don’t want any light to be shed on reality.

Nebenzia told his colleagues about the deployment by the armed forces of Ukraine of heavy equipment in residential areas and the use of civilians as a human shield, which violates international humanitarian law.

The diplomat said Russia has reason to believe that all these principles are systematically violated by the Ukrainian army and paramilitary units. He said many eyewitnesses testify that the Ukrainian army takes civilians as hostages and uses them a human shield.

A diagram was presented at the meeting showing how the Ukrainian military place their positions in residential buildings and amid civilian infrastructure. It showed tanks are located on the first floors, civilians are kept in the middle, and snipers, troops with MANPADS and heavy weapons work on the upper floors and on the roof.

Diplomats showed footage of interviews with civilians talking about how they managed to escape the war zone. According to them, the Ukrainian military fired shots at the cars of people trying to evacuate along the humanitarian corridors. One of the residents in the video strongly rejected the idea that the Russian military was involved in the explosion at the Mariupol theater.