Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaking to the United Nations Security Council (Steve Herman/Twitter).
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave another impassionate speech at the United Nations last April 5 as Ukrainians continue to suffer the consequences of Putin’s invasion.
With mounting proof of heinous crimes against the people of Ukraine, Zelensky’s speech revolved around accusing Russia of allowing such atrocities and criticizing the international body, particularly the U.N. Security Council, for not being able to stop the war.
“We are dealing with a state that is turning the veto of the United Nations Security Council into the right to die,” warned Zelensky, referring to the power of the members of the P5 to veto resolutions that are not convenient to their country’s interests.
Zelensky likened Putin’s forces to that of the Islamic State and called for a war crimes tribunal much like the Nuremberg Trials in the aftermath of World War II. He also challenged the Security Council to remove Russia as a member or opt to “dissolve itself.”
“Where is the security that the Security Council needs to guarantee?” Zelensky said, raising whether Russia deserved to keep its seat on the council. “Are you ready to close the U.N.? Do you think that the time of international law is gone? If your answer is no, then you need to act immediately.”
His speech came one day after he visited the Ukrainian city of Bucha after the Russians had withdrawn from Kyiv Oblast. As previously reported by SOFREP, dead bodies of civilians, including women and children, were found in the streets, with some rumored to be tortured before being killed.
Zelensky just presented an extremely gruesome video at the UN of lifeless bodies, charred and severed limbs and mass graves. Viewer warning: pic.twitter.com/YuWWP4plQ9
The room was dead silent as a short video presented by the Ukrainian government showed several corpses found in the city. Some bodies were bloated and burnt. Some corpses were also found with their hands tied behind their backs and were also seen to be shot in the back of the head.
“They killed entire families, adults, and children, and they tried to burn the bodies. (Civilians) were crushed by tanks while sitting in their cars in the middle of the road,” said Zelensky. “Women were raped and killed in front of their children; their tongues were pulled out.”
Zelensky suggested a global convention that will provide a platform to discuss tangible ways to enforce the goals of the U.N., which include the guarantee of a country’s borders.
He described a heightened role of Ukraine to play in this process, which he claims has “a moral right” to play the part. The Ukrainian President suggested opening a “preventive” U.N. office in Kyiv that will serve as a station for peace.
“We must do everything in our power to pass onto the next generation an effective U.N. with the ability to respond preventively to security challenges and thus guarantee peace, prevent aggression and force aggressors to peace,” he said during his remarks.
Zelensky also claimed that there is not a crime that the Russian forces “will not commit.” He compared them to the actions of religious extremists groups such as ISIS, only this time, they are protected by a seat in the Security Council.
The President went into detail describing the scene in Bucha. He accused Putin’s men of massacring entire families and burning their bodies, various forms of torture, and killing people “just for their pleasure.”
Zelensky also accused Russia of deporting hundreds of thousands of Ukranians to Russia to turn them “into silent slaves.”
The scenes in Bucha are “unfortunately only one example of what occupiers have been doing on our land for the past 41 days.” Zelensky added. “Now the world can see what Russia did in Bucha, but the world has yet to see what it has done in other parts of our country.”
Russian representative Vasily Nebenzya makes claims to UN about footage from Bucha that is contradicted by satellite imagery confirmed by the BBC
In response to the allegations, Russian UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya was quick to deny the reports and accusations of killings in Bucha. He claims that the atrocities Zelensky and his people were citing were fake and did not happen while Russians held the city. However, this has already been refuted by several news outlets, where satellite images showed that there were indeed bodies on the streets of Bucha on the dates when Russia had control of Bucha.
Nebenzya went on with his usual script, making a number of accusations against Ukraine and its leaders, whom he says are Nazis.
The invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24, has exposed a lot of holes and weaknesses with the Russian military. At the start of the war, Russian forces suffered heavy casualties trying to recapture the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Now, it appears that the Russians are steering off from that goal, and focusing its efforts in Eastern Ukraine. Experts from the Institute of the Study of War in Washington predict that “the next pivotal battle of the war” is set to take place in the city of Sloviansk, east of Ukraine.
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