GENEVA, September 23. /TASS/. Kiev is cynically attempting to use high-ranking foreign guests as "human shields" to protect its military convoys, Yuliya Zhdanova, Russia’s chief delegate to the Vienna negotiations on military security and arms control has said.

"The Vladimir Zelensky regime is cynically using high-ranking foreign guests as 'human shields' to cover its military convoys," she said at a meeting of the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation in Vienna.

She recalled that the Russian side has repeatedly warned foreign nationals - including diplomats and their families - of the need to leave Kiev due to the beginning of systematic strikes on Ukrainian military-industrial complex facilities, command and decision-making centers, and other sites used to support the Ukrainian armed forces. She noted that relevant diplomatic notes had been sent to the diplomatic corps in Moscow and via Russian embassies abroad. According to the diplomat, between August 1 and September 22, the Russian army carried out strikes using precision weapons and drones against more than 160 Ukrainian military-industrial enterprises, as well as associated fuel and energy, transport, and port infrastructure.