Russians celebrate with "Chicken Kiev" after UN meeting
After the UN Security Council session, during which the Russian attack on a children's hospital in Kiev was discussed, the Russian UN representation invites for dinner. Reason: the Russian presidency of the UN Security Council. The menu is as cynical as the statements of the Russian UN ambassador.
Russia celebrated the routine assumption of the presidency of the UN Security Council with a dinner where "Kiev Cossack cutlets" were served, as reported by the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform. This dish is also known as "Chicken Kiev." Ukrinform also showed a picture of the menu. Wine from the California "Russian River Valley" was among the drinks consumed.
Russia took over the presidency of the Security Council on July 1 for a month. The dinner took place after an emergency Security Council session, during which the Russian attack on a children's hospital in Kiev was discussed. Russian UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia repeated the Kremlin's version there that the Russian attack was aimed at a factory near the hospital. The Russian rocket had not hit the hospital, but a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile, he claimed.
According to the UN, this Russian version is, however, false and therefore likely a lie: The UN Human Rights Office had preliminarily reported that the building was hit directly by a Russian rocket of the Kh-101 (Ch-101) type. Experts had analyzed video recordings and examined the damage on site, said Danielle Bell, the head of the UN observer mission for human rights in Ukraine. Ukrainian UN Ambassador Serhii Kyslitsia held up photos during the emergency Security Council session that, in his opinion, showed the missile's flight path.
43 Dead on Monday
Meanwhile, the United Nations brought the air raid closer to a war crime. "I would like to remind this Council that hospitals, according to international humanitarian law, enjoy special protection. Deliberate attacks on a protected hospital are a war crime and the perpetrators must be held accountable," said Joyce Msuya, the acting head of the UN Humanitarian Affairs Office OCHA. Since Russia holds veto power in the Security Council, action against Moscow's aggression by the most powerful UN body is excluded.
"The moral decay of Russian diplomacy is evident," commented Ukrainian UN Ambassador Serhii Kyslitsia on the subsequent dinner of the Russian delegation. "I cannot understand how one can shake hands with Nebenzia and accept an invitation to lunch with him, which is paid for with blood money," he said. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 43 people were killed and about 200 were injured in the Russian attacks on Ukraine on Monday.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied that Russia is striking civilian targets. "There are only strikes against objects of critical infrastructure or military targets," he reportedly told the TASS agency. That is false. Russia has repeatedly attacked civilian targets since the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine. Even China expressed "deep concern" over the "brutal attacks that caused many casualties," as the deputy UN ambassador of the country, Geng Shuang, stated in the Security Council emergency session. Beijing, however, did not directly criticize its Russian ally.
- Despite the ongoing discussion about Russia's attack on a children's hospital in Kiev, deemed a war crime by the UN, being a key topic during the UN Security Council session, Russia celebrated its presidency of the council with a dinner serving "Kiev Cossack cutlets" and wine from the California "Russian River Valley."
- Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian President, accused Russia of being responsible for the death of 43 civilians and injury of about 200 more in its attacks on Ukraine on Monday, strongly condemning these actions as war crimes.
- The UN Security Council, constrained by Russia's veto power, is incapable of taking effective action against Moscow's aggression, leaving the international community powerless in holding Russia accountable for its alleged war crimes and terrorism in Ukraine.
