Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskiy has told the UN Security Council that “accountability must be inevitable” for Russia as he accused invading Russian troops of committing “the most terrible war crimes” since World War Two.
Stepping up international efforts to isolate Moscow over its devastating invasion and emerging evidence of atrocities against civilians, the United States and its allies will announce a sweeping new round of sanctions on Wednesday including a ban on all new investment in Russia, a source familiar with the move said.
The European Union’s executive proposed extending sanctions to include a ban on coal imports from Russia as part of the West’s response to the discovery of bodies of civilians shot at close range in the northern town of Bucha retaken from Russian forces.
Between 150 and 300 bodies might be in a mass grave by a church in Bucha, Ukrainian human rights ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova said on Tuesday.
Zelenskiy questioned the value of the 15-member Security Council, which has been unable to take any action over Russia’s February 24 invasion because permanent member Moscow is a veto power, along with the United States, France, Britain and China.
“We are dealing with a state that turns its veto at the UN Security Council into the right to (cause) death,” Zelenskiy said in a live video address from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, calling for action to reform the world body. “Russia wants to turn Ukraine into silent slaves,” he said.
Responding to Zelenskiy, Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Council that Russian troops were not targeting civilians, dismissing accusations of abuse as lies.
Moscow has said the deaths in Bucha were a “monstrous forgery” staged by the West to discredit it.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said responsible world powers and global leaders need to “show backbone – and stand up to Russia’s dangerous and unprovoked threat against Ukraine and the world”.
Russia says it launched its “special military operation” in Ukraine to demilitarise and “denazify” a country that President Vladimir Putin regards as an illegitimate state.
The Kremlin’s position is rejected by Ukraine, a parliamentary democracy, and the West as a pretext for an unprovoked invasion.
China’s UN ambassador told Tuesday’s session that the reports and images showing civilian deaths in Bucha were “very disturbing” but added that the circumstances should be verified and any accusations should be based on facts.
Ambassador Zhang Jun also urged the United States, NATO and the European Union to engage in a dialogue with Russia rather than pursue further sanctions he said were not effective in solving the crisis.
The source familiar with sanctions plans by Washington and its allies said they would include restrictions on financial institutions and state-owned enterprises in Russia, and target Russian government officials and their families.
The proposed EU sanctions, which the bloc’s 27 member states must approve, would bar Russian imports worth 9 billion euros and exports to Russia worth 10 billion euros, including semiconductors and computers, and stop Russian ships entering EU ports.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it was working on banning oil imports too.
