By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed Tuesday to the UN Security Council to urgently adopt sweeping internal reforms after he suggested the body is incapable of achieving its principal objective.
Addressing the Council directly, Zelenskyy asked the body that is charged with ensuring international peace and security if it believes the time of international law "has gone."
"Where is the security that the Security Council needs to guarantee? It's not there, although there is a Security Council," he asked amid Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine. "And so, where is the peace?"
Zelenskyy was speaking in the wake of shocking visual evidence that appears to show brutal killings of civilians outside of Kyiv in areas formerly occupied by Russian forces before they withdrew around March 30.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Moscow are facing vehement criticism from the international community after Ukraine accused Russian forces of committing “genocide” and “war crimes” in Bucha.
Russia has rejected the allegations as a “fake news attack,” arguing that images of dead bodies and footage of slain civilians that have drawn global outrage were staged after Russian forces withdrew from the city.
An investigation from the New York Times based on the examination of satellite photos challenged the denial, however, suggested that many of the bodies seen in the streets of Bucha had been there for weeks.
The US is set to soon call a vote within the UN General Assembly on expelling Russia from the Human Rights Council.
Russia’s war against Ukraine, which started on Feb. 24, has met international outrage, with the European Union, US, and UK, among others, implementing tough sanctions on Moscow.
At least 1,480 civilians have been killed in Ukraine and 2,195 injured, according to UN estimates, with the true figure feared to be far higher.
More than 4.21 million Ukrainians have also fled to other countries, with about 7 million more internally displaced, according to the UN refugee agency.