Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will address the UN Security Council on Tuesday, following the discovery of massacres of Russian forces near Kiev. He denounced “war crimes” and “genocide” after going to Boutcha on Monday.
Mr. Zelensky must intervene before the Security Council for the first time since the invasion of his country by Russia, indicated the United Kingdom, which currently chairs this body of the UN.
In a video broadcast overnight from Monday to Tuesday, Mr. Zelensky confirmed this intervention, which we do not know if it will take place live or delayed. “The time will come when every Russian will learn the whole truth about which of his compatriots killed, which gave the orders,” he said. He called for tougher sanctions against Moscow and for delivering more weapons to his country.
Earlier Monday, he had gone to Boutcha where dozens of corpses were found in this small town located about thirty kilometers northwest of kyiv, after the withdrawal of Russian forces.
Not Moscow
“You are here and you can see what happened. We know that thousands of people were killed and tortured, had their limbs torn, women were raped and children killed,” he said. raised, after having made a few meters in a street of the city center, strewn with shredded carcasses of vehicles of transport of troops and armored Russians, in the middle of destroyed houses.
According to the Ukrainian president, 300 people, “only in Boutcha, were killed and tortured”. Russia denied any responsibility, assuring Monday that it was going to present “documents” showing, according to it, the “true nature” of the events which took place in Boutcha.
The discovery of these “war crimes” has provoked outrage from Ukraine’s Western allies, who have promised new sanctions “this week” against Russia. “He must be held to account,” US President Joe Biden said on Monday of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, repeating that he considered him a “war criminal”.
Expulsions of Russian diplomats
The White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, indicated for his part that the discussions focused in particular on possible measures “related to energy”, a very sensitive subject for Europeans, who are very dependent on gas. Russian. Germany thus clarified on Monday that it could not do without deliveries of Russian gas “in the short term”, through the voice of its finance minister, Christian Lindner.
The Europeans also reacted by announcing the concerted expulsion of dozens of Russian diplomats. Germany has thus decided to expel “a large number” of Russian diplomats, 40 according to information from AFP. This “unfriendly” expulsion will “deteriorate” relations with Russia, reacted Moscow.
France will expel 35 Russian diplomats “whose activities are contrary to [ses] interests”. Lithuania announced the same day the expulsion of the Russian ambassador in this Baltic country, “in response to the military aggression of Russia against sovereign Ukraine and the atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces” .
“Massive attack” in the east
The EU is also setting up a “joint team with Ukraine to […] investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who spoke to Zelensky on Monday, the latter said. The EU wants to unite its forces with the International Criminal Court (ICC) which has been investigating allegations of war crimes in Ukraine since March 3.
After the Russian withdrawal around kyiv, Ukraine is now preparing for a “massive attack” in the Lugansk region in eastern Ukraine, its governor, Serguiï Gaïdaï, announced on Monday. “We see that equipment is coming from different directions, that they [les Russes, ndlr] bring men, let them bring fuel,” he said in a video message.
Two-thirds of the Russian forces that had occupied the kyiv region since the start of the invasion have retreated to Belarus, a senior Pentagon official said on Monday, saying it is likely a reorganization ahead of another assault elsewhere. in Ukraine.
This article has been published automatically. Sources: ats / afp