Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will push the UN Security Council on Tuesday for stricter sanctions to force Russia to leave its war against his country, as rage heightens against Moscow over the alleged slaughter of civilians.
Western officials have already ensured new measures this week targeting Russia’s oil as well as coal exports, which are helping Russian President Vladimir Putin pay for the invasion he called on February 24.
And Denmark, as well as Italy, became the latest European nations to remove a group of Russian “intelligence officers” registered as diplomats, after France and Germany on Monday.
The moves follow the harrowing discoveries of scores of bodies in Bucha and other towns near Kyiv as the Russian military retreated to regroup in the east.
Most of the bodies have been traced in civilian clothes. Ukrainian officials have stated some had their hands bound behind their backs.
Zelensky has condemned “war crimes” and attempted “genocide” as well as appealing for more Western weapons and defence aid, saying they could have helped save innocent lives.
“The sanctions response to Russia’s massacre of civilians must finally be powerful,” he said in a video posted late Monday after touring the devastated streets of Bucha.
His address to the United Nations Security Council will be the first since the invasion started on February 24, though it was unclear whether it would be pre-recorded or live.