Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzia noted in his remarks at the special UN Security Council meeting on Dec. 30: “It was not by chance that the Nazi Kiev regime chose Belgorod for a target of today’s terrorist attack. As we all know, in recent weeks Ukrainian nationalists have lost many well-rooted positions in the suburbs of Donetsk, from where they have been shelling the peaceful neighborhoods of that city for nine years. The town of Marinka has been liberated, the Nazis are about to be driven out of Avdeevka, and the Russian troops are pushing the Ukrainian militants along the entire line of resistance. That’s why the nationalists are no longer up to their usual shelling. Now they need to save their lives by piling the corpses of untrained recruits on fighting positions. But in Kharkov region, in close proximity to the Russian border, the situation is different. So far. We will, of course, correct it. As we have already stated, one of the tasks of our special operation within the bigger goal of demilitarizing Ukraine is to eliminate threats coming from the territories bordering on Russian regions, including those that became part of Russia after the start of the military operation. The more such threats are created, the tougher we will retaliate. I think this must be clear to everyone.”