Ukraine’s President criticizes Russia at the United Nations

Speaking online before the United Nations Security Council today, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky recounted what he had seen while inspecting the town of Bucha on the outskirts of Kiev, accusing Russian forces of many “crimes” in his country, adding that these actions were nothing more than “terrorism”.

“I am speaking on behalf of those who are remembering their loved ones who die every day, civilians who are shot in the head after being tortured, some people are killed in the street,” he said, referring to the allegation. “massacre” in Bucha.

The Ukrainian leader added that he believes Russia “will blame everyone to justify their actions” in Ukraine.

Moscow will likely say the videos are staged, according to Zelensky, but he insists Ukraine has evidence of “satellite images” to show what really happened in Bucha, adding that Kiev could “conduct full and transparent investigations”.

“The massacre in Bucha is just one of many that they have done on our territory in the past 41 days,” Zelensky said. “There are still many towns and villages like that where the world has not yet learned the whole truth.”

The President of Ukraine emphasized accountability to Russia is “inevitable”, calling the actions of Russian forces a “war crime”.

At the end of his speech, he urged the Security Council to come forward to ensure the security of Ukraine, because the main purpose of this organization is “to maintain peace”.

“Where is the security that the Security Council needs? It’s not in Ukraine, although the Security Council is still there. So where is the peace? What are the guarantees that the UN needs to guarantee?”, he said. .

During the meeting, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the Ukraine conflict one of the biggest challenges facing the international order. “The war in Ukraine must stop,” he said. “We need serious negotiations for peace, based on the principles of the UN Charter.”

President Zelensky had previously visited Bucha after images and videos emerged of civilians being murdered there. He said more than 300 people were killed in the town during the time Russian forces controlled Bucha.

About 410 bodies have been collected so far in villages and towns in the Kiev province, of which prosecutors and experts have examined 140 bodies, Ukrainian officials said.

Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, called these “important pieces of evidence about Russian war crimes”. However, the Kremlin denies these allegations.

At a press conference today, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia has repeatedly explained its position on the situation in Bucha, but the West “closed its eyes, closed its ears” and deliberately ignored Moscow’s position.

“The information has been given to us, but there is an impression that the West does not want to hear anything. Even so, we will still actively promote our position,” Peskov said.

Kremlin considers the allegation of killing civilians in Bucha as “fake news” aimed at smearing Russia. The Russian Defense Ministry also claimed that the photos and videos of the “massacre” in Bucha were staged to blame Russian forces.

Thanh Tam (According to CNN, AFP)