New Delhi: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, while addressing the UN Security Council on Tuesday, said that the Russian military should be brought to justice immediately for war crimes. Along with this, he challenged the United Nations and said that if you cannot take immediate action, then there is no point in having such global institutions.
Addressing the most powerful body of the United Nations, he also gave information about the alleged genocide by Russian soldiers in the country. He challenged the United Nations to act “immediately” or to “dissolve itself completely”. During his offensive address, he also showed a gruesome video of the bodies, in which he said they were victims of Russian atrocities.
Demand to remove Russia from UNSC
Comparing Russia’s actions in Ukrainian cities such as Bucha to violence perpetrated by “terrorists” such as the Islamic State group, Zelensky called for a 15-member United Nations Security Council (UNSC) – aimed at ensuring international peace and security – and asked to expel Russia “so that it cannot block decisions about its own aggression and its own war.”
‘There is no other way, than shut down the UN’
Zelensky continued, “If there is no other way out and there is no alternative, the next step should be to disband this institution completely.” He said the United Nations could be “closed”. The President of Ukraine told the members to present there, “Are you ready to shut down the United Nations? And the time of international law is gone? If your answer is ‘no’, you need to act immediately.”
Zelensky gave details of the atrocities of Russian soldiers
Wearing a beard and his now trademark military green T-shirt, Zelensky detailed the atrocities committed by Russian soldiers against civilians in Bucha, a city outside the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, and through graphic video the bodies of several children, including dead bodies. showed to. “They were killed in their apartments, houses, grenades were thrown, civilians were crushed by tanks in their cars in the middle of the road, just for their happiness. They cut off the limbs… cut their throats.”
Zelensky compares Russia to ISIS
Using a different term for ISIS, he said, “Women were raped and murdered in front of their children, their tongues pulled out only because the attackers didn’t hear what they wanted to hear from them. So it is no different from other terrorists like Daesh, who occupied some territory, and here it is done by a member of the UN Security Council.”
Russia vehemently denies the allegations
Moscow’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, in a speech to the Security Council on Tuesday dismissed allegations of atrocities in Ukraine by Russian troops, saying witnesses had no such evidence. Directly addressing Zelensky, Vasily Nebenzia said that Moscow “at your discretion makes baseless allegations against the Russian army, which have not been confirmed by any eyewitnesses.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s speech to the UN Security Council, however, is unlikely to change the situation on the ground. He says his army is in dire need of more powerful weapons, some of which the West has been reluctant to provide. Due to Russia’s veto power, the body will not be able to take any action.
