Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that the Russian military must be brought to justice for war crimes.
Russia has vehemently denied the accusations, calling them fabricated and staged, adding that these allegations are intended at denigrating its army.
Ukraine prosecutor-general Iryna Venediktova told The Media Line that she is assembling a detailed war crimes file against Russia. “We started on February 24 to collect information and evidence. We can’t lose time waiting and this is a long process.”
Venedikova was touring the devastated town of Bucha, just outside the capital Kyiv, on Tuesday, accompanied by army officials. She said she was interviewing residents of the town as she and her team build theircase.
Watching the destruction left behind, Venedikova pointed the finger at Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Everybody understands he’s the main war criminal of the 21st century,” she said.
US President Joe Biden weighed in on what happened in Bucha using strong words, saying that Putin should be tried for “war crimes,” adding that what happened in Bucha was outrageous, but he stopped short of calling it genocide. “Because President Biden speaks as a president, and I understand when we finish our investigation and when we decide what’s the war crime committed, [Biden’s hesitancy to call it genocide] will change,” says Venedikova.
Zelensky admonished the UN Security Council, the international body’s most powerful institution, to either act or “dissolve yourself altogether.”
Despite almost unanimous international condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, accusations of war crimes, and the displacement of millions of refugees, Putin seems unphased as the sixth week of the war nears completion.
“Where is the security that the security council needs to guarantee?” Zelensky asked. “It is obvious the key institution of the world … simply cannot work effectively.” Zelensky scolded the UN for failing to punish Russia or stop its invasion, saying, “there is nothing you can do besides conversation.”
In his impassioned speech, Zelensky sharply criticized the UN’s ineffectiveness, calling for wholesale reform of the 76-year-old organization. The international body has not lived up to the goals set out at its founding in San Francisco after World War II, he said, and those goals cannot be reached without reforms.
He called for Russia to be expelled from the Security Council and stripped of its veto power in the organization, “so that the veto is not the right to die,” adding that there should be “no more exceptions or privileges” for Moscow.