Zelensky to address UN Security Council amid outrage over ‘possible genocide’
The Ukrainian president is set to speak at the British-convened meeting on Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will address a United Nations Security Council meeting convened by Britain amid growing outrage over Russian atrocities.
The UK, which currently holds the council’s presidency, said it wants to discuss the “mounting evidence of war crimes” on Tuesday and will push to ensure “justice is done”.
Evidence apparently showing Vladimir Putin’s soldiers deliberately killing civilians has been emerging as he withdraws his struggling troops from around the capital Kyiv, including from the city of Bucha.
Mr Zelensky has warned that worse evidence of mass killings of civilians by Moscow will emerge as the Russian president repositions his troops to the south-east.
It will be his first address to the Security Council, with members including Russia and China, and comes a day after he visited Bucha to witness the fall-out.
The Ukrainian leader accused Moscow of committing “real genocide”, as he appeared visibly emotional, flanked by his soldiers and wearing a bullet-proof vest.
Ihor Zhovkva, deputy head of the office of the President of Ukraine, said Mr Zelensky “will give all the evidence” to the international community at the Security Council meeting.
“If these awful atrocities will not change the agenda of all the world, what will change?” the adviser asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Mr Zhovkva said Ukraine needs “additional weapons”, including tanks and missiles, to “liberate more cities” from Russia control.
Dame Barbara Woodward, Britain’s UN ambassador, called images coming from Bucha “harrowing, appalling, probable evidence of war crimes and possibly a genocide”.
She cited hundreds of bodies being dumped in the streets or in mass graves and allegations of rape.
The EU proposed a multi-billion pound ban on coal imports from Russia under a fresh wave of sanctions that will also cut off four key banks from European markets and block Russian ships from accessing the union’s ports.
Also on Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss met Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki during the second day of her visit to the capital, Warsaw.
“We share a strong security and defence relationship, and are determined to step up our efforts to make sure Putin fails,” she said.
Ms Truss has called for Russia to be hit with the “maximum level” of sanctions and for more weapons to be supplied to Mr Zelensky’s forces to help repel the Kremlin’s troops.
“The idea that we should wait for something else bad to happen is just completely wrong,” she said, applying pressure to allies.
“The reality is that money is still flowing from the West into Putin’s war machine – and that has to stop.”
She pressed for a “clear timetable” to eliminate imports of Russian oil, gas and gold, and for a further crackdown on industries financing Moscow’s invasion.
Mr Morawiecki has criticised German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for focusing on the “voices of German businesses” rather than the innocents killed in Ukraine.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is likely to urge Germany to set a date for phasing out Russian gas when he meets Mr Scholz in Downing Street on Friday.
