Russia concerned over UN vehicle on Ukraine battlefield

Ukrainian forces have been using civilian transport to haul weapons, Moscow’s envoy said

Russia has raised concerns over an official UN vehicle apparently used for combat by Ukrainian forces. It’s the latest of numerous incidents of civilian transport being seized for the war effort by Kiev, Moscow’s envoy to the UN told the Security Council on Tuesday. Considering this, it seems feasible that, for example, medical vehicles could be used to deliver Western weapons into the country, he warned.

“It’s good that the [UN] Secretariat has finally acknowledged relevant crimes in Kharkov and Mariupol,” Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, said during a meeting on the Ukraine crisis.

“We are expecting a response to our latest inquiry about the UN vehicle with the diplomatic number DP210015, which was also taking part in Kharkov in combat operations of the Ukrainian nationalists, according to witness accounts,” he said.

The vehicle he mentioned was apparently the one spotted in a video released by Ukrainian fighters to show off the shooting down of an aircraft. It was reportedly used to transport anti-aircraft missiles.

The diplomat said there were credible reports that official vehicles of the UN and the OSCE were used by Ukrainian forces. He called on both organizations to “give fair assessments of such facts.”

Nebenzia also mentioned evidence of DHL delivery vans being used for combat in Ukraine. A video showing a Ukrainian mortar team apparently using a DHL vehicle to move around was published on Reddit last weekend.

Mortar crews of Ukraine also use cars of the delivery service “DHL” for movement. pic.twitter.com/Gc6IN99TRD

— Revolution Radio ⚪ (@Freedom_Slips) March 28, 2022

One of the fighters shown in the video claimed the van was one of six voluntarily donated to the war effort by the Ukrainian branch of the German company. DHL shut down all operations in the country in early March. It told Russian media that the Ukrainian authorities had confiscated corporate transport.

The Russian diplomat said cases such as these have disturbing ramifications in terms of telling apart civilian and military targets in Ukraine.

“We cannot rule out that vehicles of these organizations or vehicles marked as medical transport could be used to deliver to Ukraine from neighboring states the very same weapons that the West has generously promised to Kiev,” he said.

Moscow has repeatedly warned that it will consider any arms shipments to Ukraine as legitimate military targets.