Zelenskiy Says Russia’s Actions Bear Signs of Genocide, Rejects Talks in Belarus

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy - AFP
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy - AFP
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Zelenskiy Says Russia’s Actions Bear Signs of Genocide, Rejects Talks in Belarus

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy - AFP
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy - AFP

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the world on Sunday to scrap Russia's voting power at the UN Security Council and said Russian actions verged on "genocide."

"This is terror. They are going to bomb our Ukrainian cities even more, they are going to kill our children even more subtly. This is the evil that has come to our land and must be destroyed," Zelenskiy said on a short video message.

"Russia's criminal actions against Ukraine bear signs of genocide," he added, Reuters reported.

Also, an adviser to Zelenskiy told Reuters on Sunday that Ukraine wants only "real" negotiations with Russia over its military offensive, without ultimatums, calling Moscow's decision to send a delegation to Belarus for talks "propaganda".

Earlier the Kremlin said a Russian delegation had arrived in Gomel in neighboring Belarus and was waiting for the
Ukrainians.

Zelenskiy rejected talks in Belarus, accusing it of allowing Russian troops through its territory to invade. However, he left the door open for negotiations elsewhere.

"They arrived in Gomel knowing that it was pointless. And now they say - 'we are waiting,'" adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters.

"Zelenskiy's position remains unchanged: only real negotiations, no ultimatums."

For his part, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko called on Kyiv on Sunday to sit down and hold talks with Russia so that Ukraine does not lose its statehood, Russia's RIA news agency reported.



At Least 4 Dead, 2 Missing in San Antonio after Heavy Rains Flood Parts of Texas

Cars dive away from a storm during a Project ICECHIP operation Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Morton, Texas. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Cars dive away from a storm during a Project ICECHIP operation Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Morton, Texas. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
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At Least 4 Dead, 2 Missing in San Antonio after Heavy Rains Flood Parts of Texas

Cars dive away from a storm during a Project ICECHIP operation Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Morton, Texas. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Cars dive away from a storm during a Project ICECHIP operation Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Morton, Texas. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Heavy rains swamped San Antonio early Thursday, killing at least four people who were swept away in floodwaters as crews rescued dozens of others, officials said.

Fire officials said they were still searching for two people who were missing. Calls for water rescues began shortly before sunrise, according to the San Antonio Police Department.

Two women and two men were found dead, police Chief William McManus said. He did not have their ages, The Associated Press reported.

The deaths all occurred in the northeast part of the city, where authorities found 13 vehicles in the water.

“It’s hard to determine at this point exactly how they got swept away," San Antonio Fire Department spokesman Woody Woodward said. "But it is an area where there was high water that was moving rapidly and there were several people that were caught in that water that had climbed up into trees and we did do a couple of rescues out of trees and some rescues out of vehicles.”

The department had made 65 water rescues since midnight throughout the San Antonio area, he said.

By midmorning, rain had stopped and the flooding was receding.