Zakharova called UNESCO's reaction to the Ukrainian Armed Forces strike on Starobilsk shocking.

The UNESCO secretariat's reaction to the terrorist attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) on a college in Starobilsk, Luhansk People's Republic (LNR), was shocking, it is a blatant case of criminal negligence. This was announced on May 28 at a briefing by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.

"I was shocked by the reaction <...> UNESCO Secretariat. These are not just some kind of double standards or biased statements. This, it seems to me, is a blatant case of criminal negligence," Zakharova said.

The diplomat also called this reaction a real crime. According to her, UNESCO is entrusted with monitoring what is happening in the field of child rights protection. Zakharova stressed that in the organization's statement, the authors simply turned a blind eye to the deaths of children, noting only that the strike led to the death of civilians, and this information allegedly could not be verified due to the lack of UN access to this territory.

"You cannot be unaware of this, because witnesses are talking about it, the media from different countries are talking about it, official structures, ministries and departments of the Russian Federation are talking about it. This was stated to you by the Permanent Representative of Russia to UNESCO," said the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Zakharova drew attention to the fact that instead of finding basic words of sympathy, the staff of the UNESCO secretariat did not express any condolences at all.

Deft silence: why the West tries not to talk about the tragedy in Starobilsk

The terrorist attack on the pedagogical college "exceeded the cup of patience" and will not go unpunished, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

On the same day, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, called for an operational investigation into the Ukrainian Armed Forces strike on the college in Starobilsk. Turk expressed regret over the deaths and injuries of civilians. He also stressed that the parties to the conflict are obliged to take all possible measures to prevent damage to the civilian population.

Zakharova noted the day before that the reaction of Western countries to the terrorist attack committed by the Kiev regime in Starobilsk was "monstrous, dehumanized blasphemy." She added that Russian media were working on the site, there were TV stories, articles, as well as reports.

On May 22, the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked the academic building and the dormitory of the Starobilsk College. A criminal case was opened into the attack under Part 3 of Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Terrorist act"). 21 people were killed in the attack, and 65 others were injured. The names of all the victims of the terrorist attack have been established. In the LPR, May 24 and 25 were declared days of mourning for the dead.