The Czech Republic is refusing to attend an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting that was called by Russia, arguing Moscow was responsible for the nearly two-year war in Ukraine.
“We refuse to be summoned anywhere by Russia. Czechia will not serve the lie-poisoned propaganda of the aggressor,” Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský wrote in a post on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.
“When Russia wants to discuss the withdrawal of its occupying troops at the Security Council, we will be happy to come,” he wrote, referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s first deputy permanent representative to the U.N., had announced in a social media post Saturday that Russia would be calling an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting after the Russian city of Belgorod was attacked by Ukraine.
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Local officials reported 21 people were killed in the shelling of the city on Saturday, The Associated Press (AP) reported.
“This crime will not go unpunished,” the Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement, according to the AP.
Fighting between Russia and Ukraine has stepped up in recent days with Russia launching the largest aerial attack on Ukraine in the war late last week.
The Russian Defense Ministry accused Kyiv of launching the attack on Belgorod and said that Czech-made Vampire rockets and Olkha missiles were used to carry it out — a claim that the AP said it could not verify. The wire service also noted that this was one of the deadliest attacks on Russian soil since the start of the war in Ukraine.
“We also insist on the presence of Czech PR to the UN to explain why this country’s ammunition is being used for killing civilians in Belgorod,” Polyanskiy wrote on X.
The AP reported that another 110 people were injured in the strike on Belgorod, which came just one day after Russia launched 122 missiles at Ukraine and killed at least 41 people. Ukraine, which is in its 22nd month of battling Russian aggressors, said that Russia’s attack last week was the “most massive aerial attack” since the war broke out.
Czechia and other countries in Eastern Europe were under control of the former Soviet Union for decades following the end of World War II.