Kyiv (TIP): Ukraine President VolodymyrZelenskyy told the United Nations Security Council that “accountability must be inevitable” for Russia as he accused Russian troops of committing “the most terrible war crimes” since World War II. Zelenskyy showed a short video of burned, bloodied and mutilated bodies, including children, in Irpin, Dymerka, Mariupol and Bucha.
He questioned the value of the 15-member UN Security Council, which has been unable to take any action over Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine because Moscow is a veto power, along with the United States, France, Britain and China.
“We are dealing with a state that turns its veto at the UN Security Council into the right to (cause) death,” Zelenskyy said in a live video address, urging reform of the world body.
“Russia wants to turn Ukraine into silent slaves,” he said. Russia’s UN ambassador VassilyNebenzia told the council: “We’ve heard once again a huge amount of lies about Russian soldiers and military.” The United Nations said some 11 million Ukrainians — more than a quarter of the population — have fled their homes. More than 4 million of those people have left Ukraine. Zelenskyy told the UN that the atrocities committed by Russian troops are no different from terrorists like the Islamic State extremists as he demanded immediate action to bring the Kremlin’s forces to justice for “war crimes”. “Yesterday I returned from our city of Bucha, recently liberated from Russian troops not far from Kiev. There is not a single crime that they would not commit there. The Russian military searched for and purposefully killed anyone who served our country,” Zelenskyy said. — Agencies