In an address to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded that the Council remove Russia as a permanent member or dissolve the body in its entirety, delivering a scathing rebuke of the organisation’s inaction.
During his virtual address to the 15-nation Council, the Ukrainian leader said the UNSC’s failure to ensure peace in Ukraine and not hold its permanent member Russia accountable, indicates its redundancy. “Where is the security that the Security Council needs to guarantee? It is not there, though there is a Security Council,” said Zelensky.
Ukrainian President Zelensky describes graphic scene in Bucha, Ukraine to the @UN Security Council. pic.twitter.com/VKjp2VplMi
— CSPAN (@cspan) April 5, 2022
Against the backdrop of his return from the town of Bucha, Zelensky said there was “not a single crime” that the Russian troops “would not commit,” as he described in detail the atrocities committed by Russia, accusing Moscow’s troops of killing and burning entire families and raping both women and children. Earlier this week, Zelensky called for international courts to investigate the Russian troops over war crimes in Bucha, as Ukrainian authorities recovered more than 400 civilian bodies.
Talking about Russia’s veto power in the UNSC, the Ukrainian leader said, “We are dealing with a state that is turning the UN Security Council veto into the right to die.” To this end, Zelensky called for the removal of Russia from the Council “so it cannot block decisions about its own aggression, its own war.”
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky will address the UN Security Council on Tuesday, where he is expected to demand tough new sanctions on Russia over killings in the town of Bucha he has called "war crimes" and "genocide"https://t.co/sAnQVMwHtE pic.twitter.com/WbxuHQwhGc
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) April 5, 2022
Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US) are the five permanent members of the UNSC and all have the power to unilaterally reject or block any resolution presented for discussion. However, this power also means that Russia cannot be expelled from the Council, as it can simply reject any motion that calls for its ouster.
In this context, Zelensky urged the UN to “act immediately” or “dissolve yourself altogether.” The Ukrainian President questioned the Council members, saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready to close the UN?... If your answer is no, then you need to act immediately.”
In response, Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s UN envoy, insisted that Zelensky’s accusations against the Russian forces are “ungrounded,” adding that Kyiv’s claims are yet to be “confirmed by any eyewitnesses.”
Nebenzya continued to argue that the atrocities in Bucha are fabrications by Ukrainian authorities following Russia’s retreat from the region. Nebenzya told the UNSC: “You only saw what they showed you,” adding that there were several discrepancies in Ukraine’s presentation of the situation.
Separately, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov echoed Nebenzya’s sentiments and also described the accusations levelled against Moscow as “groundless.” He added that Ukraine and the West’s attempts to “denigrate” the Russian army is a “well-staged tragic show.”
Following a fact-checking investigation, German state-owned media outlet Deutsche Welle (DW) has confirmed that the atrocities reported in Bucha are not staged.
Recent developments in the Ukraine-Russia war, particularly with regards to the discovery of the massacre in Bucha, have made peace negotiations between the two warring countries more difficult. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov remarked that the “untruthful provocation” over Bucha is an attempt by Ukraine to “torpedo” the next round of negotiations. Zelensky, too, has noted that the revelation of the crimes in Bucha has made peace negotiations with Russia more difficult.