UN chief condemns possible Russian war crimes ahead of Zelensky speech to Security Council

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Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russian of ‘war crimes’ as he shared harrowing footage revealing the true horrors of war during a fiery speech to the Security Council as he slammed the UN body for failing to protect Ukraine. 

Members of the UN Security Council were left in stunned silence as the Ukrainian president warned Russia had ‘committed genocide’ in the country and shared dozens of pictures of charred bodies, civillians shot dead and mass graves taken in Bucha, Irpin and Mariupol in recent days. 

The wartime leader said atrocities have been carried out throughout the country, with women raped and killed in front of their families, people captured and deported to Russia and turned into ‘slaves’ in his blistering address as he demanded Putin be brought to justice for the alleged atrocities.

He called out the Security Council for failing to provide any security, demanding Russia’s expulsion from the global body and reform to ensure no further illegal invasions in the future.

The Ukrainian president asked: ‘So where is the security that the Security Council needs to guarantee? It’s not there. Although there is a Security Council and so where is the peace?

‘It is obvious that the key institution of the world which must ensure the coercion of any aggressor to peace simply cannot work effectively.’

He told of civilians being run over deliberately by tanks, people’s tongues being cut out and gang rapes being committed by invading Kremlin forces in ‘the most terrible war crimes’ since the Second World War, as he shared a harrowing video of burnt corpses and bodies stuffed in wells to the council.

People ‘were killed in their apartments, houses… civilians were crushed by tanks while sitting in their cars in the middle of the road, just for their pleasure,’ Zelensky told the Council, including Moscow’s envoy. 

In Bucha, advancing Ukrainian units met discovered hundreds of bodies strewn all over residential roads in the suburban town that was once home to 28,000 people. 

‘The massacre in our city of Bucha is unfortunately only one of many examples of what the occupiers have been doing on our land for the past 41 days’, Zelensky added. 

The wartime leader said he feared Russians turning his people into ‘silent slaves’ as he said ‘hundreds of thousands’ of Ukrainians have been deported to Russia. 

Zelensky’s words were reiterated by Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S ambassador to the UN, who said tens of thousands of captured Ukrainians were being separated from family in ‘filtration camps’ where their personal possessions were confiscated. 

She told the security council: ‘I do not need to spell out what these so-called filtration camps are reminiscent of. It’s chilling, and we cannot look away’. 

Zelensky also urged reform of the UN because the current system of global security has failed, and called on world leaders to act ‘immediately’ against Russia. 

Russia’s envoy predictably dismissed the claims as ‘lies’ as he repeated unfounded Kremlin claims about Nazis running Ukraine and said allegations of atrocities have not been confirmed. 

The Kremlin claimed the images of civilians were ‘fake news’ and ‘a crude forgery’ staged by the Ukrainians themselves. Moscow’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia insisted that while Bucha was under Russian control, ‘not a single local person has suffered from any violent action’. He added: ‘You only saw what they showed you. The only ones who would fall for this are Western dilettantes.’  

Nebenzia said Moscow places ‘on your conscience the unfounded accusations against the Russian military, which are not confirmed by any eye witnesses.’ 

He rejected allegations of war crimes, claiming there are ‘flagrant inconsistencies in events shown by Ukrainian and Western media’.

The diplomat repeated disproved claims that corpses found in Bucha were not there when Russia withdrew, saying: ‘The corpses in no way resemble those that could be lying on the street for three or four days.’

But satellite images shows corpses on the street nearly two weeks before the Russian departure.

In a video address to the people of Russia on Tuesday night, Boris Johnson, speaking in Russian, said the reports were so shocking that Putin had deliberately sought to hide the truth from his people, adding: ‘Your president knows that if you could see what was happening, you would not support his war. 

‘He knows that these crimes betray the trust of every Russian mother who proudly waves goodbye to her son as he heads off to join the military. And he knows they are a stain on the honour of Russia itself. A stain that will only grow larger and more indelible every day this war continues.’

Meanwhile UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is one of the greatest challenges ever to international order.

Speaking to the Security Council in New York, the UN chief said there is mounting evidence of war crimes, rapes and sexual assaults by Putin‘s forces.

He said, referencing the piles of civilians bodies near the capital of Kyiv which emerged this weekend: ‘I will never forget the horrifying images of the civilians in Bucha.’ 

‘The war in Ukraine must stop – now,’ Guterres told the Council, after calling it ‘one of the greatest challenges ever to the international order.’

‘We need serious negotiations for peace, based on the principles of the United Nations Charter,’ he said.

Guterres said the war was putting even more pressure on the developing world, with more than 1.2billion people particularly vulnerable to to spiking food, energy and fertilizer costs. 

‘We are already seeing some countries move from vulnerability into crisis, and signs of serious social unrest,’ he added.  

UN undersecretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo told the meeting of ‘credible’ claims Russia has used indiscriminate cluster munitions two dozen times in populated parts of Ukraine.

She said: ‘OHCHR has received credible allegations that Russian forces have used cluster munitions in populated areas at least 24 times.’

She said the global body was ‘gravely concerned by the persistent use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area,’ saying such weapons are causing the most civilian casualties in the war.

During a visit on Monday to Bucha, where AFP counted 20 bodies on a single street, he accused Russia of ‘war crimes’ and attempted ‘genocide’ and asked Europe to apply the ‘most severe pressure’.  

The head of NATO, meanwhile, warned that Russia is regrouping its forces in order to deploy them to eastern and southern Ukraine for a ‘crucial phase of the war,’ and said that more ‘atrocities’ may come to light as Russian troops continue to pull back in the north.

‘When and if they withdraw their troops and Ukrainian troops take over, I’m afraid they will see more mass graves, more atrocities and more examples of of war crimes,’ NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said. 

Among the horrors inflicted on Bucha are a man who had his cheek cut out before being shot in the heart, another who was kidnapped and burned with a flamethrower, and a ‘torture chamber’ filled with bodies inside a children’s hospital: 

Survivors of a month-long Russian occupation – endured in cold, dark silence after Putin’s troops cut off all links with the outside world – are just now starting to emerge from basements and makeshift bunkers. 

Vladislav Kozlovsky, who returned to Bucha at the outbreak of war to care for his mother and grandmother, told The Telegraph how two men he knew had tried to escape through an abandoned glass factory but were found by the Russians. 

One was shot in the back of the head. The other had his cheek cut out before being shot in the heart.

Volodymyr Pilhutskyi, another Bucha resident, recounted how his neighbour was taken away by Russian troops because he was wearing military-style trousers which were deemed ‘suspicious’.

He was tortured and killed, Mr Pilhutskyi said, with burn marks from a flamethrower found on his body.

Ukrainian armed forces say they have now uncovered a Russian torture chamber, located inside a children’s hospital that was also being used as a makeshift barracks. 

The bodies of five men were found shot to death in the basement, a spokesman said, with their hands tied behind their backs. Some had been tortured.

Graphic images taken by Ukrainian prosecutors show the bodies of the men lying on a rubble floor surrounded by pools of dried blood. At least one appears to have been shot through the kneecap.

 

As western leaders condemned the killings in Bucha, Italy, Spain and Denmark expelled dozens of Russian diplomats, following moves by Germany and France. Hundreds of Russian diplomats have been sent home since the start of the invasion, many accused of being spies.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the expulsions a ‘short-sighted’ measure that would complicate communication and warned they would be met with ‘reciprocal steps’.

In another show of support, the European Union’s executive branch proposed a ban on coal imports from Russia, in what would be the first sanctions from the bloc targeting the country’s lucrative energy industry over the war. The coal imports amount to an estimated 4 billion euros (£3.3billion) per year. 

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the EU needed to increase the pressure on Putin after what she described as ‘heinous crimes’ carried out around Kyiv, with evidence that Russian troops may have deliberately killed Ukrainian civilians.

She did not mention natural gas, with consensus among the 27 EU member countries on targeting the fuel used to generate electricity and heat homes more difficult to secure.

The EU gets about 40% of its natural gas from Russia, and many EU countries, including Germany – the bloc’s largest economy – are opposed to cutting off gas imports.

So far, Europe had not been willing to target Russian energy over fears that it would plunge the European economy into recession but the recent reports of civilian killings have increased pressure for tougher EU sanctions.

The US and the UK previously announced they were cutting off Russian oil, Poland said it plans to block imports of coal and oil from Russia, while Lithuania said it is no longer using Russian natural gas. 

It comes as drone footage revealed today appeared to show Russian tanks opening fire on a cyclist in Bucha. 

Footage of the attack in the Kyiv Oblast town shows a man walking his bicycle up a street, apparently unaware that several Russian tanks lay in wait around the corner.

Another video purportedly showed the aftermath of the attack after Bucha was reclaimed from Moscow’s clutches in recent days. In it, a person believed to be the same man can be seen dead on the side of the road next to his bicycle.

In the first video, captured on March 3, the drone appears to be watching the Russian tank column, but the footage also tracks the man as he is walking up the road that runs through a neighbourhood of destroyed or damaged buildings.

The operator of the drone repeatedly pans upwards, showing a long queue of military vehicles – including tanks, armoured personnel carriers and trucks – positioned between buildings, on the next street over from the man.

As the cyclist continues down the street – first on his bicycle and then on foot, pushing it along side him – the drone focuses more on his movement up the road.

He is shown nearing a junction in the road and turns left down a narrower street, where an armoured vehicle and a tank are positioned around 150ft away.

As soon as he turns the corner into the side road, a flash is seen from the armoured vehicle’s turret, and a rocket is shown flying through the air.

Russia’s death toll in Ukraine is nearing 20,000, Kyiv has claimed, as Ukraine continues to push back invading Kremlin troops and retake ‘key terrain’ around the capital and Chernihiv.

Putin‘s forces are retreating from major cities in the west as they refocus their efforts on the Donbas, with 60,000 Russian reservists expected to be called in to reinforce Moscow’s offensive in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk provinces claimed by separatists.

The brutal siege of Mariupol is continuing where the Ukrainian civilian death toll has risen to 5,000, while a nitric acid tank in Rubizhne, Luhansk, has been shelled, forcing civilians to remain inside their homes with their windows shut. 

A red and brown cloud of poisonous smoke prompted warnings to residents to wear wet face masks after the release of the dangerous chemical, which both sides blamed on the other. 

Luhansk governor Sergiy Gaiday said Russia is planning a major attack in the region as he ordered a mass evacuation, saying: ‘We understand that they are preparing for a full-scale big breakthrough. Please don’t wait for your homes to be bombed.’

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s general staff said Russia has again used banned cluster munitions in Mykolaiv, targeting civilian buildings including a children hospital in a horrific attack which has killed 11 and wounded 61.  

British defence officials said ‘low-level fighting is likely to continue in some parts of the newly recaptured regions, but diminish significantly over this week as the remainder of Russian forces withdraw’ from Kyiv and Chernihiv.

In an intelligence update posted online, the UK says many of the Russian units ‘are likely to require significant re-equipping and refurbishment before being available to redeploy for operations in eastern Ukraine.’ 

It comes as the UK, US and Australia today announced a new step in their partnership that will see them develop hypersonic weaponry in a bid to counteract the high-speed missiles constructed by Russia and China.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, US President Joe Biden, and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison issued an agreed statement on Tuesday in which they reiterated ‘unwavering commitment’ to an international system which ‘respects human rights’.

The three countries, which form the AUKUS military pact which was announced last September, committed to ‘commence new trilateral co-operation on hypersonics and counter-hypersonics, and electronic warfare capabilities, as well as to expand information sharing and to deepen co-operation on defence innovation’. 

The announcement comes after China successfully completed tests of its own version of the deadly weapon, WU-14, in recent years, as well as Russia claiming the first deployment of hypersonic missiles in an active theatre of war last month. 

Initially surrounding submarines, Mr Johnson previously suggested the alliance could go beyond that and, on Tuesday, the three leaders said: ‘We reaffirmed our commitment to Aukus and to a free and open Indo-Pacific.  

‘In light of Russia’s unprovoked, unjustified, and unlawful invasion of Ukraine, we reiterated our unwavering commitment to an international system that respects human rights, the rule of law, and the peaceful resolution of disputes free from coercion.’ 

Other measures proposed by the EU’s executive arm include sanctions on more individuals and four key Russian banks, including the second-largest, VTB.

‘These four banks, which we now totally cut off from the markets, represent 23% of market share in the Russian banking sector,’ Von der Leyen said. ‘This will further weaken Russia’s financial system.’

If the proposal is adopted unanimously by all 27 EU countries, the new package of sanctions would also ban Russian vessels and Russian-operated vessels from EU ports, with exceptions for essentials such as agricultural and food products, and humanitarian aid and energy.

Further targeted export bans worth 10 billion euros (£8.3 billion) have been proposed in sectors covering quantum computers, advanced semiconductors, sensitive machinery and transportation equipment.

Von der Leyen said: ‘With this, we will continue to degrade Russia’s technological base and industrial capacity.’

According to EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, 62% of Russia’s exports to the EU were hydrocarbons last year.

‘If we really want to affect Russia’s economy, that’s where we need to look,’ he said. ‘And that’s exactly what is subject to discussions concerning this sanctions package.’

Because of its climate ambitions, the EU has been moving away from coal. Coal use fell from 1.2 billion tons a year to 427 million tons between 1990 and 2020, but imports rose from 30% to 60% of coal use.

The European Union gets about 25% of its oil from Russia, while the EU imported 53% of hard coal from the country in 2020, which accounted for 30% of the EU’s hard coal consumption.

Russian coal would be easier to replace than Russian gas because coal comes by ship and there are multiple global suppliers. Germany’s association of coal importers said in March that Russian coal could be replaced ‘in a few months’.

Analysts at the Bruegel think tank said in March that Germany and Poland were particularly reliant on Russian coal for power generation and that ‘Russian coal can be replaced because global markets are well supplied and flexible’.

But they added that ‘replacing Russian coal imports will require the lightspeed deployment of new supply chains to bring the right type of coal where it is needed. Most European coal users already source from different suppliers and should be able to build on existing relationships’.

But the switch would mean more import demand from Europe and higher global coal prices, with significant effects on emerging and developed economies that also rely on coal.