UN Security Council emergency meeting: Guterres "strongly condemns" Russian missile attack, Nebenzya urges West to "expect the worst"

An urgent meeting of the UN Security Council convened in New York by representatives of Ukraine and 30 other partner countries in response to the massive Russian attack on the morning of December 29. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the shelling, while Russian Permanent Representative Vasily Nebenzya threatened Kyiv and the West with "the worst news in the near future" and said that air defense was allegedly to blame for the deaths of Ukrainians.

At the same time, US representatives assured that they "will not abandon the brave Ukrainians." The meeting began at 16:00 (23:00 Kyiv time) and was broadcast on the UN YouTube channel.

As UN Secretary-General's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday, Guterres condemned Russia's large-scale shelling of cities and towns across Ukraine, including civilian objects and critical infrastructure, in the "strongest terms."

For its part, the United States accused Russia of deliberately distracting the UN Security Council with the Euromaidan and other topics in Ukraine a decade ago while Moscow was preparing its largest air strike on Ukraine.

"Two days ago, the Russian Federation organized a meeting of the Security Council to recall the events of ten years ago. Russia said that discussing the Revolution of Dignity would allow Council members to better understand how these events affected the current situation in Ukraine," said John Kelly, Minister-Counselor at the US Mission to the UN.