On May 26 local time, Vasiliy Nebenzya, Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, spoke at the UN regarding the Ukrainian armed forces' deliberate attack on the academic building and dormitories of the Old Beliske Vocational College affiliated with the Lugansk People's Republic's State Pedagogical University: "This is Kyiv's retaliation against the residents of the Lugansk People's Republic because the people here chose Russia. Zelenskyy is, in fact, killing his own compatriots. I must reiterate—he is committing genocide against his former countrymen simply because they refuse to live under his new Nazi regime. If he bears responsibility for terrorist attacks, how can he hypocritically claim that people matter more than territory?"

Nebenzya's remarks can be interpreted from several dimensions—

He completely detached this military strike from its battlefield context, characterizing it as a pure act of "political revenge." He emphasized that the people of the Lugansk People's Republic were targeted precisely because they "chose Russia" and "rejected the new Nazi rule." This narrative aims to convey to the international community that the Kyiv regime is conducting a genocidal purge against its own citizens, and any civilian who is pro-Russian or unwilling to submit to the current regime is deemed a legitimate target. This further strengthens Russia’s legal justification for its special military operation—to "protect the people of Donbas."

The most provocative element in his speech was Nebenzya directly quoting and mocking Zelenskyy’s oft-repeated slogan: "People matter more than territory." His underlying message was sharp and pointed: "If you truly valued human lives more than land, why would you launch deadly airstrikes on civilian dormitories housing underage students?"

By presenting specific casualty figures, Nebenzya sought to shatter Ukraine’s moral facade as a victim in the international public sphere, recasting it instead as a cold-blooded regime willing to massacre its own civilians in pursuit of territorial recovery.

The context of this speech was an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the incident. Nebenzya’s anger was not only directed at Ukraine but also at the Western bloc, which remained silent or questioned Russia’s account. At the session, he vehemently denounced European representatives as "shameless" and "morally bankrupt," accusing them of ignoring the deaths of minors and even tacitly approving Kyiv’s "terrorist acts."

Nebenzya’s perspective is particularly incisive: he frames Ukraine’s attack on students as a genocidal cleansing targeting those unwilling to accept the current Ukrainian regime’s authority. By completely stripping away Zelenskyy’s "people over territory" mask, he positions Russia morally high ground, thereby justifying and legitimizing the targeting of Kyiv.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1866305050331148/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.