Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday that Russia is trying to turn Ukrainians into “silent slaves” and detailed the destruction that has taken place in his country since the start of the invasion seven weeks ago.
Zelensky, dressed in his now-trademark military green and speaking via video, accused Russia of committing war crimes and referenced the Sunday slaughter of civilians in Bucha, a suburb northwest of Kyiv. Hundreds of bodies were discovered stuffed into sewers and shoved into shallow graves while Bucha burned.
Zelensky also said civilians were “crushed by tanks while sitting in their cars in the middle of the road.”
“Women were raped and killed in front of their children, their tongues pulled out,” he added.
CALLS FOR WAR CRIME CHARGES AGAINST PUTIN GROW, BUT SPEED OF JUSTICE COULD BE SLOW
The destruction was so severe that it triggered global outrage and renewed calls for Russian President Vladimir Putin to be prosecuted for war crimes.
Zelensky said the actions in Bucha were similar to those committed by the Islamic State when it occupied territories and went after innocent civilians, mutilated their bodies, and raped women in front of their children.
Tuesday’s speech was Zelensky’s first time addressing the global group since Putin ordered his forces to “denazify” Ukraine.
The 15-nation Security Council is the most powerful U.N. body and is tasked with maintaining international peace. It has the power to enforce decisions that member states are obligated to follow. But Zelensky did not spare the U.N. or the Security Council in his speech and said it was “obvious that the key institution of the world to protect peace cannot work effectively. “
He added that he wasn’t the first leader to lament the group’s inability to make its members live up to its charter.
Before showing a short but graphic video of the horrors of war, Zelensky asked the Security Council if it was ready to shut down shop.
“Are you ready to close the U.N.?” he asked. “Do you think that the time of international law is gone? If your answer is no, then you need to act immediately.”
Prior to Zelensky’s speech, Antonio Guterres, the U.N. secretary-general, urged members to do “everything in its power” to bring a halt to the fighting.
“The war in Ukraine must be stopped now,” he said.
Guterres warned of a ripple effect and said 74 developing countries, with a total population of 1.2 billion people, are vulnerable to spiking food and energy costs as a result of the war.
Rosemary DiCarlo, the undersecretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs, said if the conflict stretched through the end of 2022, Ukraine faced the prospect of seeing 18 years of socioeconomic progress lost and claimed it would “set the country and the region back decades and leave deep long-term economic and social fissures.”
Despite pleas from Zelensky, it is unlikely anything will be decided Tuesday, if at all.
Russia and its ally China carry veto power, and it’s unlikely either will vote in favor of condemning the country or its leader.
Russia has vehemently denied committing war crimes, and Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya used his time to blast Ukraine for not upholding agreements to allow for humanitarian aid to be delivered. He also claimed credit, without proof, for saving more than 123,000 Ukrainians stuck in the besieged port city of Mariupol.
Addressing Zelensky directly, Nebenzya said Russia placed “on your conscience the ungrounded accusations against Russian military that are not confirmed by any eyewitnesses.”
In February, the Russian ambassador to the U.N. vetoed a Security Council resolution written by the United States and its allies condemning the invasion of Ukraine. At that meeting, Nebenzya went after the U.S. for its 2003 invasion of Iraq.
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Western powers, including the U.S., France, and Britain, have struggled to hold Russia accountable for its actions. They have slapped sanctions on the country, attempted to seize the assets of its oligarchs, and turned Putin into a global pariah. Despite their actions, the body count in Ukraine has continued to rise.
