On April 5, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi addressed the UN Security Council during an emergency meeting. He heavily criticized the organization. Zelenskyi also showed a graphic video of Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine.
Here are key remarks from President Zelenskyi‘s address.
There was not a single crime that the occupation troops would not commit in Bucha. That is what a permanent member of the UN Security Council does.
“The Russian military searched for and purposefully killed anyone who served our state.
They executed women outside the houses when approaching and simply calling someone alive. They killed whole families, both adults and children, and tried to burn their bodies. I am addressing you on behalf of the people who honor the memory of the killed everyday, every morning.
We commemorate killed civilians who were shot in the back of the head or in the eye after being tortured, who were shot in the streets.
Those who were thrown into wells, so that they die in suffering. Those who were killed in their apartments and houses, and blown up by grenades. Those who were crushed by tanks in civilian cars in the middle of the road, for pleasure.
Those whose limbs were cut off, whose throats slashed. Those who were raped and killed in front of their children. Their tongues were torn out only because they did not hear from them what they wanted to hear. How is this different from what the ISIS terrorists were doing in the occupied territory?
Except that a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council is doing that.”
Where is peace that the United Nations was created to guarantee? “Where is security that the Security Council must guarantee? There is no security. Although there is a Security Council, as if nothing happened.
It is obvious that the key institution of the world, which must ensure the coercion of any aggressors to peace, simply cannot work effectively.
Now the world has seen what the Russian military did in Bucha while keeping our city under occupation. But the world has yet to see what they have done in other occupied cities, in other occupied areas of our country.
Geography may be different, but cruelty is the same. Crimes are the same. And responsibility must be inevitable.
I would like to remind you of Chapter I, Article 1 of the UN Charter. What is the purpose of our organization? To maintain peace. And to enforce peace. Now the UN Charter is being violated literally from the first article. And if so, what is the point of all other articles?
Today, it is as a result of Russia’s actions in the territory of my country, in the territory of Ukraine, that the most heinous war crimes since World War II are being committed.”
Why did Russia invade Ukraine? I will answer. Russia’s leadership feels like colonizers – as in ancient times. They need our wealth and our people. Russia has already deported tens of thousands of our citizens to its territory. Hundreds will follow. It abducted more than two thousand children, just abducted thousands of children, and continues to do that. Russia wants to turn Ukrainians into silent slaves. The Russian military is openly looting the cities and villages they have captured. That is unseen looting. They steal everything from food to gold earrings they just rip out with blood.
We are dealing with a state that turns the right of a veto at the UN Security Council into the right to [cause] death. That undermines the whole architecture of global security. That allows the evil to go unpunished and spread across the world. It destroys everything that can work for peace and security.
If this continues, the finale will be that each state will rely only on the power of arms to ensure its security, not on international law, not on international institutions. Then, the UN can simply be dissolved.
The UN system must be reformed immediately. “So that all regions of the world are fairly represented in the Security Council. The aggressor must be forced to peace immediately. Determination is needed. A chain of mass killings from Syria to Somalia, from Afghanistan to Yemen and Libya should have been stopped a long time ago.
If tyranny ever received a response to the war it unleashed that would make it cease to exist, and fair peace would be guaranteed after that, the world would surely change.”
Two ways for UN Security Council. “We now need decisions from the Security Council, for peace in Ukraine. If you do not know how to adopt this decision, you can do two things.
Remove Russia as an aggressor and a source of war from blocking decisions about its own aggression, its own war. And then do everything that can establish peace.
Or show how you can reformat and really work for peace. Or if your current format is unalterable and there is simply no way out, then the only option would be to dissolve yourself altogether.
I am convinced that you can do without the third option. Ukraine needs peace. We need peace. Europe needs peace. The world needs peace.”
Video of Ukraine’s retaken areas after Russian troops retreat
Ukraine will win the war, 95 per cent of Ukrainians say. Growing share say the war will not end soon
Ninety-five per cent of Ukrainians believe that Ukraine will fight back Russia’s attack, a survey by the Sociological Group Rating found. The survey was conducted between March 30 and March 31.
Sixty-nine per cent of Ukrainians say they are “absolutely certain” that Ukraine will win, and 25 per cent say they are “somewhat certain.”
A decreasing share of Ukrainians believe that the victory will come in a few weeks. Thirty per cent say Ukraine needs several weeks to stop Russia’s advance, a decrease from 39 per cent in early March. Five per cent believe in the victory in one week. Growing share of Ukrainians say Ukraine would need up to six months or a year to win.
Sixteen per cent say Ukraine would need six months or a year to win. Four per cent say it would take over a year. Thirty-one per cent say Ukraine would need several months to win the war.
Ukraine in Flames #26. What is wrong with ‘the Russian soul’?
A mysterious ‘Russian soul’ is a stereotype from Russian literature about the noble and proud Russian spirit that is incomparable with the soulless rest of the world (usually the money-grabbing West). For centuries, a myth about the uniquely moral, tough and profound Russian soul has been taken for granted in the West. The inhumane Russia-Ukraine war shows that the Russian culture is tainted with blood. As a result, the world is boycotting the Russian art domain. However, some opinion leaders still promote the myth that art is away from politics and are not convinced that Russian culture is the source of atrocities. For instance, PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel recently told The Wall Street Journal that boycotting Russian culture would not help Ukraine. She believes that ignoring and stigmatising the entire Russian culture is a clear reaction to armed aggression and a way of solidarity with colleagues who have found themselves in such a difficult situation. However, according to her, the mass boycott of artists and art in general risks only deepening authoritarianism and dehumanisation.
For Ukrainian cultural diplomacy, it is important to debunk myths about ‘the great Russian culture’. Culture is a space of freedom, inspiration, true witness and deep understanding, not the propaganda of self-aggrandizement, cruelty and humiliation of others. Russia usually uses art as a hybrid weapon against its enemies, including Ukrainians. Russians have humiliated Ukrainians and violated their right to self-determination for centuries. In Russian literature, Ukrainians are usually written about as “Little Russians”, and the Ukrainian language as a dialect, which is derogatory and contemptuous. Russian popular art is often full of xenophobia towards non-Russians and the grandeur of the Russian nation. The Russian media and education are laced with derogatory catchwords about Ukrainian politics, ex. “Bandera” or “little brothers”. So what’s wrong with the Russian soul and how has Russian culture become an integral part of the hybrid war against Ukraine?
Speakers:
Vakhtang Kebuladze, philosopher, writer and translator
Akhtem Seitablayev, Ukrainian actor of Crimean Tatar origin
Volodymyr Yermolenko, philosopher and writer, editor in chief of the Ukraine World project;
Ivan Lenyo, vocalist of the KOZAK SYSTEM band
Maria Burmaka, Ukrainian singer and songwriter, Merited Artist of Ukraine
Nika Naboka, Ukrainian actress
Pola Ostałowska, Member of International Secretary of “Młodzi Demokraci” association, Poland
Yevhen Nyshchuk, Minister for Culture (2014 – 2019), Merited Artist of Ukraine