Kyiv, Ukraine
Reuters
Russia, whose leader is accused of war crimes, assumed charge of the United Nations Security Council on Saturday causing fury in Ukraine, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy calling it an absurd and destructive move.
The last time Russia held the rotating presidency of the body responsible for maintaining peace and combating acts of international aggression was in February, 2022, when Moscow troops launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Slovenia’s Prime Minister Robert Golob, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Moldovan President Maia Sandu, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger speak with local residents as they visit the town of Bucha marking the first anniversary of its liberation, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, outside of Kyiv, Ukraine, on 31st March, 2023. PICTURE: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters/File photo..
“Unfortunately, we…have some obviously absurd and destructive news,” Zelenskiy said in his daily video address, adding that Russian shelling had killed a five-month-old boy on Friday.
“And at the same time Russia is chairing the UN Security Council. It’s hard to imagine anything that proves more the total bankruptcy of such institutions,” he said.
The presidency rotates alphabetically each month among the 15 members. Although it is largely procedural, the Kremlin and other Russian officials vowed to “exercise all its rights” in the role.
The United States on Thursday urged Russia to “conduct itself professionally” when it assumes the role, saying there was no means to block Moscow from the post.
In March, the International Criminal Court – an international justice body not associated with the UN – issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin and his commissioner for children rights, accusing them of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called Russia’s presidency of the Security Council a “slap in the face to the international community.” Zelenskiy said it was time for a general overhaul of global institutions, including the Security Council.
“Reform is obviously necessary to prevent a terrorist state – and any other state that wants to be a terrorist – from destroying the peace,” he said.
Some 400 days into the war, which has killed thousands, destroyed Ukrainian cities and set millions of civilians to flight, Russia continues to take over parts of the country, pressing on with its assault in the east.
Earlier, Zelenskiy advisor Andriy Yermak also hit out at Iran, which Kyiv and its allies accuse of supplying Russia with arms. Tehran denies it is giving weapons to Russia.
“It is very telling that on the holiday of one terror state – Iran – another terror state – Russia – begins to preside over the UN Security Council,” Yermak wrote on Twitter, referring to Iran’s Islamic Republic Day holiday.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, Zelenskiy said the military situation around the city of Bakhmut, besieged by Russian forces for months, was “especially hot”.
“Thank you to our soldiers who are fighting in Avdiivka, Maryinka, and Bakhmut. Especially Bakhmut,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. “It is especially hot there.”
Russian forces have for months been trying to encircle and capture Bakhmut, a town of 70,000 before the Russian invasion launched over a year ago.
We rely on our readers to fund Sight's work - become a financial supporter today!
For more information, head to our Subscriber's page.
Prominent Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said fighting had engulfed the city centre. Ukrainian forces had repelled 25 enemy attacks, but Russian forces had captured the AZOM metal plant, which Ukrainian troops had defended for days.
“The enemy is attacking the city centre from the north, the east and the south and is trying to take the city under its full control,” Zhdanov, who has close ties to the Ukrainian military, said in a video shown on YouTube.
“In some places, we have been successful and in some places we have even staged counter-attacks. But the enemy on occasion registers some success in view of the number of its forces and the number of its daily attacks.”
In his video address, Zelenskiy also said that two people had died in a Russian mortar attack near the town of Konotop in the northern region of Sumy.
He noted earlier reports that Russian shelling had killed six people in the city of Kostyantynivka in Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. Eleven people were injured.
– With RON POPESKI
