MOSCOW, January 12. /TASS/. The United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have issued only meager general appeals regarding the situation surrounding the Ukrainian armed forces' strikes on civilian targets in the borderline Russian city of Belgorod, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"The UN leadership, the OSCE, which, I remind you, has a direct duty to monitor and respond to such cases, have also remained silent and have issued only meager appeals of a general nature," the diplomat said at a briefing. "They apparently do not know where these shells are coming from; they do not know who is supplying them; they do not know who is sponsoring the Kiev regime," she added.

The statements by NATO and European Union politicians on Belgorod, according to Zakharova, testify to their "lack of counterarguments and elementary decency." "They are simply afraid to call things by their names and continue to vindicate the Kiev Nazis, and justify their bloody atrocities against civilians, even if it proves to be so unholy and bloody," the diplomat said. "The conclusion is self-evident: the [much-vaunted] ‘tolerance’ of the ‘civilized democracies’ is duplicitous and criminal."

The Ukrainian armed forces shelled the center of Belgorod on December 30, using two rockets with cluster munitions and Czech-made rocket launchers. According to the latest data, 25 people were killed, including five children, with more than 100 injured. Dozens of homes and civilian facilities were damaged. On December 31, the Russian Defense Ministry announced a retaliatory strike on Ukrainian military facilities, including in Kharkov, resulting in significant losses for the Ukrainian side.