Russia is killing civilians ‘for pleasure, says Ukraine President Zelensky at the UN Security Council

Ukraine’s President Volodymr Zelensky told the UN Security Council that Russian soldiers were killing Ukrainians “for pleasure”.

President Volodymyr Zelensky, of Ukraine, addresses a meeting of the United Nations Security Council (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)

Ukraine’s President Volodymr Zelensky accused Russian troops of killing Ukrainian civilians “for pleasure” in an emotinal speech before the UN Security Council.

Zelensky demanded “accountability” for Russian “crimes” carried out during Moscow’s invasion of his country - and reiterated his calls for the state to be removed from the Security Council.

Describing alleged atrocities in Ukraine’s Bucha, Zelensky said.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”.

He told the Council, including Moscow’s envoy, that women were raped in front of their children, and that civilians had their throats slashed, limbs cut off and tongues cut out.

Accusing Russia of genocide, Zelensky said: “They killed entire families, adults and children, and they tried to burn the bodies.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky, of Ukraine, addresses a meeting of the United Nations Security Council in New York City (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)

A saelitte image of Bucha, near Kyiv, shows bodies left in the streets after Russian troops invaded the town. Credit: AFP PHOTO /Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies

Zelensky compared Russia to ISIS and accused Putin of “exporting” his hatred into other countires, not only Ukraine.

He said: “Where is the peace? Where are those guarantees that the UN needs to guarantee?

“Geography may be different or various, but cruelty is the same, crimes are the same, and accountability must be inevitable.”

Zelensky added that “hundreds of thousands” of Ukrainians had also been deported to Russia.

Horrific pictures that emerged from Bucha, outside Kyiv, in recent days show bodies strewn across streets and corpses buried in shallow graves.

Moscow denied responsibility and claimed the bodies were planted there after Russian troops left the area, but satelitte images prove that is untrue.

Ukainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to the press in the town of Bucha, northwest of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv (Photo by RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP)

“What we’ve seen in Bucha is not the random act of a rogue unit. It’s a deliberate campaign to kill, to torture, to rape, to commit atrocities,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

Washington and the EU have promised more sanctions to squeeze Russia’s economy and force President Vladimir Putin to halt the war he launched six weeks ago, purportedly to defend pro-Russia enclaves in Ukraine’s east.

“In the coming weeks, we expect a further Russian push in the eastern and southern Ukraine to try to take the entire Donbas and to create a land bridge to occupied Crimea,” NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said.

The EU announced a fifth package of measures that would target oil and coal exports and prohibit Russian ships from European ports, while the US Treasury said Russia would no longer be able to pay its foreign debt with dollars held in American banks.

EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, who said she would travel to Kyiv this week, has offered the bloc’s assistance in documenting proof of war crimes.