The President of Ukraine addresses the delegates of the UN Security Council via video transmission.
(Photo: dpa)
new York In a video link with the UN Security Council, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called for the body to be reformed. He also demanded that the military involved be tried as war criminals “like at the Nuremberg trials”.
It was the first time since the outbreak of war that Zelensky addressed the UN Security Council, which last met on March 17. As with his video slot in the US Congress, Zelenski again showed a shocking video with photos of burned corpses, dead children, hands sticking out of piles of earth.
“The Russian military who committed these war crimes must answer in court,” Zelensky said. You have to show the other war criminals how the greatest war criminal is charged and convicted. Russia is behaving like former colonial states: “Russia wants to turn the Ukrainians into silent slaves,” he said.
The Russian government does not care about international law. “Do you think the time of international law is over? If your answer is no, then you must act now,” he warned. Russia’s aggressions in Syria, Moldova, Crimea and Georgia have been ignored for too long. This was the only way the current war in Ukraine could have happened, argued Zelensky.
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The time has come to reform the Security Council, where permanent members have veto power. “We must have the opportunity to punish,” he said. All must be treated equally, no matter how important they are economically or geopolitically.
>> Read also: Chronology of events: why does Putin want Ukraine?
Ukraine has taken in refugees from Afghanistan in the past when they had to flee. Therefore, the country has the moral right to propose a reform of the world security system.
“We must remove Russia from the Security Council as an aggressor and source of the war so that it cannot block measures against its aggression,” appealed Zelensky.
He is also open to other solutions. But if the Security Council were only discussing, then the body could also “dissolve itself”.
The Russian ambassador to the UN accused Ukraine of tolerating Nazis in the country.
(Photo: Reuters)
Zelensky anticipated the reactions of the Russians: “We know exactly what’s coming. Russia will blame everyone,” he said. “They will say that there are different versions and you have to see which one is true,” he explained. They would say that the bodies were put there, that the videos are fake. But today there are satellite images that prove the atrocities.
Various participants thanked Selenski for his words. “We have to show backbone,” said US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield. She suggested expelling Russia from the UN High Commission on Human Rights as a first step. “We have the power in the General Assembly to withdraw Russia from the UN High Commission on Human Rights,” she said. “Let’s get together and take this step.”
Russia denies allegations
The Russian ambassador to the UN, Vasily Alekseevich Nebenzya, spoke of “unfounded allegations against the Russian military, for which there is no evidence”. The day before, Nebenya had denied the allegations in a press conference. He again accused Zelensky of not adhering to the Minsk Agreement and of ignoring the alleged “Nazis” in his country.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres describes the Russian invasion as one of the greatest challenges to world order. The reason for this is the nature of the war, its intensity and effects, Guterres said before the UN Security Council.
Because of the war, the pressure on the poorer countries is increasing. More than 1.2 billion people are particularly at risk from sharply rising prices for energy, food and fertilizers. “We are already seeing in some countries that the threat is becoming a crisis.” There are also signs of serious social unrest.
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