UNITED NATIONS, April 5. /TASS/. Western suppliers of weapons for Kiev blame Russia for the situation regarding children in the Ukrainian conflict area and seek to accuse it of "abduction" of minors, Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said, speaking during the Arria-formula informal meeting of the UN Security Council, gathered under Russia’s initiative Wednesday.
According to the Permanent Representative, over 3,000 civilians, including 152 children, died in Donbass between 2014 and December 2021.
"Currently, these numbers grow rapidly, to a significant extent due to Western shipment of long-range weapons, which allow Ukrainian forces hit civilian areas they were not able to reach before," Nebenzya noted. "Children die to artillery fire, to sniper fire, are being blown up by landmines, set by Ukrainian military back in 2014-2015, step on ‘Petal’ landmines that Ukrainian forces scatter across civilian residential areas."
"All these crimes have been committed for years and continue being committed in front of the eyes of the apathetic international community - the West, to be exact, who, by its indifference, hypocritically denies the right for life to the people of Donetsk and Lugansk," he said. "These children have become victims to Kiev’s fratricidal policy and geopolitical ambitions of its benefactors."
"It is not enough for Western weapon suppliers and their Kiev puppets to murder people with impunity, they decided to shift the responsibility on others and started accusing Russia of ‘abductions’ and ‘forced relocation’ of children," the diplomat noted. "Apparently, in their opinion, children - orphans, in particular - should be left in the combat area. Because our former Western partners are real ‘humanists’.".