War in Ukraine | Volodymyr Zelensky asks the UN for a process like Nuremberg against Russia

It’s already 14 o’clock meetings that he United Nations Security Councilthe body responsible for maintaining world peace and security, has celebrated on the ukrainian war. That of this Tuesday, like the previous ones, has shown the paralysis in the face of crisis of the Council, where Russiathe country that started the war, is one of the five permanent members with right to veto. However, this latest session, which has come in the wake of devastating information and images from Bucha after the withdrawal of Russian troops, has raised awareness of the atrocities of this conflict. And it has made it possible for the first time to address the Council directly Volodymyr Zelenskythe Ukrainian president, who has urged the holding of a Nuremberg-like process to investigate and try Russia for war crimes.

“The Russian armed forces and those who gave them orders must be brought immediately to justice for war crimes in Ukraine,” said Zelensky, who has assured that in his country “the worst war crimes are being committed What have we seen since WWII” and has stated that what was seen in Bucha is “one of the many examples of what the occupants have been doing on our land for 41 days”. He has specifically spoken of civilians “crushed by tanks while they were in their cars in the middle of the road “, of “women raped and murdered in front of their children, whose tongues were ripped out” and other barbaric acts.

Zelensky just presented an extremely thick video at the UN of lifeless bodies, charred and severed limbs and mass graves. Viewer warning: pic.twitter.com/YuWWP4plQ9

— John Hudson (@John_Hudson) April 5, 2022

“Anyone who has given criminal orders or carried them out must be brought before a court that would be similar to those in NurembergZelensky declared, something he already suggested in one of his speeches to his own nation at the end of March.

Zelenski’s intervention, made just before intervening before the Spanish Congress, has also served to put the Security Council and the UN in general in front of the mirror of its inability to act given its structure and to directly carry out a appeal for reform. Ensuring that Russia has transformed its veto power into “the right to die”, Zelensky has called for him to be removed from the Council “so that he cannot block decisions on his own war”. But he has also assured that “it is obvious that the world’s key institution to protect peace cannot function effectively“.

“Is time to transform the system“full UN, Zelensky assured. “If there is nothing to do but talk”, he said, what they would have to do is “dissolve entirely“.

Zelensky has called for “a fair representation in the Security Council of all the regions of the world” and has said that “there can be no more exceptions or privilegeseveryone must be an equal participant in international relations regardless of their economic strength, their geographical area or their individual ambitions”. And his speech then has been applauded by the UN representatives of the United States, the United Kingdom and France, three other veto members, but the three nations have so far also held back attempts to do away with the current structure. And, despite the war in Ukraine, nothing indicates that Washington, London or Paris are willing to lose their own privilege.

This Tuesday’s session has served once again, also, to show the Russia’s determination to use the UN as a loudspeaker of his own version of the war. Not long after a Ukrainian-prepared video was broadcast containing graphic images of dead bodies in Bucha, Irpin and other towns through which Russian troops have passed, Kremlin representative Vasili Nebenzia has insisted that the accusations of atrocities They are “lies“, in which the barbarity has been committed by the Ukrainian “Nazis and radicals” themselves and in blaming distribution “fake newsto media like New York Timeswhich on Monday carried out a satellite image check to confirm that the bodies were in Bucha when Russian troops were there.

Once again, Moscow has also had the back to his message, partial but fundamental, of China, the fifth member with the right to veto in the Council. And Beijing’s ambassador to the UN has assured that although the information coming from Bucha is “disturbing”, he has added that “the circumstances and causes should be clarified”. “Before drawing conclusions, the parties should proceed with caution and avoid unfounded accusations“, he declared, asking for “containment”.