Zelensky to Address UN Security Council over Russian 'Genocide'

A visibly distressed Zelensky spent half an hour in Bucha, where he blamed Russian troops for the killings. RONALDO SCHEMIDT AFP/File
A visibly distressed Zelensky spent half an hour in Bucha, where he blamed Russian troops for the killings. RONALDO SCHEMIDT AFP/File
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Zelensky to Address UN Security Council over Russian 'Genocide'

A visibly distressed Zelensky spent half an hour in Bucha, where he blamed Russian troops for the killings. RONALDO SCHEMIDT AFP/File
A visibly distressed Zelensky spent half an hour in Bucha, where he blamed Russian troops for the killings. RONALDO SCHEMIDT AFP/File

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky will address the UN Security Council on Tuesday, where he is expected to demand tough new sanctions on Moscow over killings in the town of Bucha he has called "war crimes" and "genocide".

The speech, Zelensky's first to the body since Russia's invasion, comes after he made an emotional trip to Bucha outside the capital, where dozens of bodies were discovered after the withdrawal of Russian troops, AFP reported.

Horrific images of corpses lying in the streets, some with their hands bound behind them, have drawn international condemnation of Russia.

It has denied responsibility and suggested the images are fake or that the deaths occurred after Russian forces pulled out of the area.

But newly released satellite photographs taken by Maxar Technologies in mid-March, before the Russian withdrawal, showed what appeared to be bodies in some of the same places they were later found by Ukrainian troops and seen by journalists.

On Monday, wearing body armor and visibly distressed, Zelensky spent half an hour in Bucha, where he blamed Russian troops for the killings.

"These are war crimes and it will be recognized by the world as genocide," he said.

Later in his nightly address, he demanded "the sanctions response to Russia's massacre of civilians must finally be powerful".

"But... did hundreds of our people have to die in agony for some European leaders to finally understand that the Russian state deserves the most severe pressure?" he asked in the video posted to Telegram.

He also called for additional weapons from Western allies, saying more equipment could have saved thousands.

"I do not blame you -– I blame only the Russian military," he said. "But you could have helped."

- More sanctions 'this week' -
Ukraine's allies have called the killings in Bucha war crimes, with the EU offering to send investigators to gather evidence.

"(Russian President Vladimir Putin) is a war criminal," US President Biden told reporters at the White House. "What's happening to Bucha is outrageous and everyone's seen it."

The White House said it would announce fresh sanctions on Moscow "this week" with France suggesting new measures could target Russian oil and coal exports.

But Germany warned it was too soon to cut off Russian gas.

"We have to cut all economic relationship to Russia, but at the moment, it's not possible to cut the gas supplies. We need some time," German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said.

Elsewhere, the United States and Britain said they would seek Russia's suspension from the UN Human Rights Council -- a move Moscow branded "unbelievable".

Russia has called for a UN Security Council meeting on what it dubbed the "heinous provocation of Ukrainian radicals in Bucha", but Britain -- which holds the Council presidency -- has so far refused the request.

- More horrors emerge -
The full nature of the killings in Bucha and other areas from which Russian troops have withdrawn is still being pieced together.

On Monday, the bodies of five men were found in a children's sanatorium basement in Bucha. The Ukrainian prosecutor general's office said they were unarmed civilians, who had been bound, beaten and killed by Russian troops.

And in Motyzhyn, west of Kyiv, Ukrainian police showed AFP journalists the bodies of five civilians with their hands tied, including those of the village's mayor, her husband and son.

Ukrainian officials say over 400 civilian bodies have been recovered from the Kyiv region, many of whom have been laid to rest in mass graves.

But Zelensky has warned that the deaths in Bucha could be only the tip of the iceberg, saying he had information even more people had been killed in places like nearby Borodianka.

AFP reporters who briefly visited the area saw no bodies in the streets, but locals reported many deaths.

"I know five civilians were killed," said 58-year-old Rafik Azimov. "But we don't know how many more are left in the basements of the ruined buildings after the bombardments."

"I buried six people," another resident, Volodymyr Nahornyi, said. "More people are under the ruins."

- Mariupol '90 percent destroyed' -
The Russian withdrawal from Kyiv has been seen as a pivot to a renewed offensive in the country's east and south, where Moscow wants to consolidate territory around occupied Crimea and the separatist statelets of Donetsk and Lugansk.

The Ukrainian government has warned Moscow is preparing a "full-scale" attack in the country's east and regional officials urged civilians to evacuate Lugansk fearing a major Russian attack.

The Pentagon estimates Russia has withdrawn about two thirds of the troops it had around Kyiv and will redeploy them to the east and south, with the White House warning the war's "next phase could be measured in months or longer."

Even where troops have withdrawn, fears remain, with Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko telling residents to wait before returning, citing the danger of continued shelling and the danger of unexploded munitions.

Overnight, air raid sirens rang out across much of the country, from Lviv in the west to southern Mykolaiv, where officials said Monday that Russian strikes killed 10 civilians and wounded 46.

Elsewhere in the south, concerns remain about civilians trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol.

Authorities say at least 5,000 people have been killed in the city, 90 percent of which has been destroyed, according to mayor Vadim Boichenko.

Around 130,000 residents are still trapped inside, and efforts to evacuate them are now on hold because of "incessant" bombing, he said.

The Red Cross said Monday a team it sent to help get civilians out of Mariupol was being held by police in Russian-controlled territory.

Europe's worst conflict in decades, sparked by Russia's invasion on February 24, has killed as many as 20,000 people, according to Ukrainian estimates.

More than 4.2 million Ukrainians have fled the country and about 6.5 million have been internally displaced, UN agencies say.



Russia, North Korea Foreign Ministers Meet, Pyongyang Backs Ukraine War

12 July 2025, North Korea, Wonsan: Sergei Lavrov (2nd L), Foreign Minister of Russia, and his North Korean counterpart Choe Son-hui (3rd R) hold a meeting. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa
12 July 2025, North Korea, Wonsan: Sergei Lavrov (2nd L), Foreign Minister of Russia, and his North Korean counterpart Choe Son-hui (3rd R) hold a meeting. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa
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Russia, North Korea Foreign Ministers Meet, Pyongyang Backs Ukraine War

12 July 2025, North Korea, Wonsan: Sergei Lavrov (2nd L), Foreign Minister of Russia, and his North Korean counterpart Choe Son-hui (3rd R) hold a meeting. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa
12 July 2025, North Korea, Wonsan: Sergei Lavrov (2nd L), Foreign Minister of Russia, and his North Korean counterpart Choe Son-hui (3rd R) hold a meeting. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with his North Korean counterpart in the coastal city of Wonsan on Saturday, during which Pyongyang reaffirmed its support for Russia’s military actions in Ukraine, the TASS state news agency reported.

Lavrov flew out of Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur on Friday following the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting, arriving the same day in Wonsan, North Korea, home to a newly opened seaside resort but also known for its missile and naval facilities, reported Reuters.

Lavrov's visit is the latest high-level meeting between the two countries as they upgrade their strategic cooperation to now include a mutual defense pact.

"We exchanged views on the situation surrounding the Ukrainian crisis ... Our Korean friends confirmed their firm support for all the objectives of the special military operation, as well as for the actions of the Russian leadership and armed forces," TASS quoted Lavrov as saying.

The South Korean intelligence service has said North Korea may be preparing to deploy additional troops in July or August, after sending more than 10,000 soldiers to fight with Russia in the war against Ukraine.

North Korea has agreed to dispatch 6,000 military engineers and builders for reconstruction in Russia's Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces launched a mass cross-border incursion nearly a year ago.

Russian news agencies also reported Lavrov's arrival and said after North Korea he is expected to travel to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting, which is set to take place on Monday and Tuesday.

TASS said the new Wonsan coastal resort could boost Russian tourism to North Korea, citing the resumption of direct trains from Moscow to Pyongyang and a project to build a bridge across the Tumen River forming part of the boundary between North Korea, China and Russia.

TASS quoted Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko as saying more high-level delegations would visit North Korea later this year.

Rudenko said the accord on strategic partnership "clearly meets the changing needs over recent decades and strengthens traditionally friendly, good-neighborly Russian-Korean relations to a qualitatively new level as allies."