UN / RUSSIA PRESSER

Following the 22 May drone attack on a student dormitory and educational buildings in Starobelsk, Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya told journalists in New York that Russian investigative authorities have opened a criminal case on charges of terrorism, and said, “all those responsible will be identified and will face inevitable and severe punishment.” UNIFEED

• Video Length: 00:02:08
• Production Date: 26 May 2026
• Asset Language: English
• Personal Subject: VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY; VASSILY A. NEBENZIA
• Corporate Name: SECURITY COUNCIL
• Subject Topical: WAR; WAR VICTIMS; CHILDREN; SCHOOLS; DRONE AIRCRAFT; BOMBINGS; CIVILIANS
• Geographic Subject: RUSSIAN FEDERATION; UKRAINE
• MAMS Id: 3578317
• Parent Id: 3578317
• Alternate Title: unifeed260526c

Description

STORY: UN / RUSSIA PRESSER
TRT: 02:08
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 26 MAY 2026, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

FILE - NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior UN Headquarters

26 MAY 2026, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, press room dais
3. Wide shot, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“86 students aged 14 to 19 were among - with one staff member - were living in the dormitory. These were children and teenagers. They were not on the front line. They were not, and they neither participated nor could possibly have participated in the hostilities. They were asleep. It was at that moment when the strike happened, turning an ordinary night in the student dormitory, into a nightmare. According to the latest reports, 21 people, mostly young girls, were killed and 63 students were injured in this horrific attack.”
5. Wide shot, journalists
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“The deliberate nature of the attack is further confirmed by the fact that 16 UAVs targeted the same location in three successive waves, causing the five-storey dormitory building to collapse down to the second floor. Yet another glaring manifestation of the Nazi and terrorist character of the Kyiv regime, which does not hesitate to kill minors in cold blood. Russian investigative authorities have opened a criminal case on charges of terrorism. All those
responsible will be identified and will face inevitable and severe punishment.”
7. Wide shot, journalists
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“He is exterminating his former fellow citizens for refusing to live under his neo-Nazi rule. How can he hypocritically argue that people matter more than territories when he is responsible for such terrorist attacks?”
9. Med shot, journalists
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“We do not target civilians deliberately. Unlike what, what the Ukrainian armed forces are doing, not just in Starobelsk, which we are discussing today, but they were doing that on a regular basis. Even before that.”
11. Med shot, journalist
12. Wide shot, end of presser

Storyline

Following the 22 May drone attack on a student dormitory and educational buildings in Starobelsk, Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya today (26 May) told journalists in New York that Russian investigative authorities have opened a criminal case on charges of terrorism, and said, “all those responsible will be identified and will face inevitable and severe punishment.”

Nebenzya said “86 students aged 14 to 19 were among - with one staff member - were living in the dormitory,” stressing that “these were children and teenagers. They were not on the front line.”

According to the latest reports, he said, “21 people, mostly young girls, were killed and 63 students were injured in this horrific attack.”

The Russian Ambassador said, “the deliberate nature of the attack is further confirmed by the fact that 16 UAVs targeted the same location in three successive waves, causing the five-storey dormitory building to collapse down to the second floor. Yet another glaring manifestation of the Nazi and terrorist character of the Kyiv regime, which does not hesitate to kill minors in cold blood.”

Starobelsk is located in Luhansk Oblast, in eastern Ukraine. The city is under Russian control.

Nebenzia said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “is exterminating his former fellow citizens for refusing to live under his neo-Nazi rule,” adding, “how can he hypocritically argue that people matter more than territories when he is responsible for such terrorist attacks?”

He insisted the Russian Federation does not “target civilians deliberately. Unlike what the Ukrainian armed forces are doing, not just in Starobelsk, which we are discussing today, but they were doing that on a regular basis. Even before that.”

According to news reports, Ukraine admits striking a military site in Starobelsk on 22 May but denies striking any civilian infrastructure.