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UN Security Council to meet Monday over drone attack on Belarusian bus, Russia says
United Nations Headquarters in New York
June 27, Pozirk. The UN Security Council’s emergency meeting over last week’s deadly drone attack on a Belarusian tour bus will take place on June 29, Russia’s acting permanent representative to the United Nations, Anna Evstigneyeva, told TASS.
The meeting was called by Columbia, which currently holds the Security Council’s rotating presidency and will begin at 3 p.m. New York Time (10 p.m. Minsk time), she said.
On June 26, the Belarusian foreign ministry called for an “impartial international investigation” into the drone attack after Russia took the initiative to announce that Minsk had requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in connection with the incident.
The news was broken by Evstigneyeva, in the absence of any information on the matter on the foreign ministry’s website or in the Belarusian state media.
Evstigneyeva described the attack as a “deliberate strike” by Ukraine on a Belarusian civilian bus carrying children in Russia’s Bryansk province.
In a statement on Friday, the foreign ministry’s spokesman Rusłan Varankoŭ said that Belarus had appealed to Columbia to call an emergency meeting in connection with the “terrorist attack.”
Given that Belarus is not a member of the Security Council, the appeal has been supported by its permanent member Russia, Varankoŭ said, adding that the meeting would take place soon.
Belarus will demand an “immediate, objective, and impartial international investigation,” Varankoŭ said, stressing that “such crimes must not be hushed up and the perpetrators must not escape accountability.”
During the meeting, Varankoŭ said, Belarus will also complain to the Security Council about “recent statements by the Ukrainian leadership, which openly declare readiness to launch strikes on the Belarusian territory, including critical infrastructure facilities.”
”Such rhetoric not only flagrantly violates the fundamental principles of international law but also poses a direct threat to regional and international security,” the statement said.
On June 17, a Belarusian tour bus carrying 44 passengers, including 28 minors enrolled in a soccer program, was hit by a drone in Russia. Viktoryja Haroška, the wife of a coach from the Rečyca sports school for children, was killed in the attack. Six other people, including five children, were wounded.
While warning against drawing premature conclusions, Alaksandar Łukašenka blamed the strike on a Ukrainian drone.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine denied involvement, stating that Ukrainian forces did not use unmanned aerial vehicles against targets in Russia’s Bryansk province on the day the bus was hit.
Belarus confirms Russia’s announcement that Minsk has requested UN Security Council meeting over drone attack
June 26, Pozirk. The Belarusian foreign ministry has called for an “impartial international investigation” into last week’s deadly drone attack on a Belarusian tour bus after Russia took the initiative to announce that Minsk had requested an emergency meeting of the UN …
