Zelensky to address UN Security Council amid global outrage over mass killings

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky is set to address the UN Security Council on Tuesday amid global outrage over what has been called a “massacre” in the Bucha town of the capital city of Kyiv.

Bodies strewn across streets – as the Russian troops retreated – have put violence in the war-hit country under fresh spotlight as Moscow has been accused of fresh war crimes. US president Joe Biden has yet again called Russia’s Vladimir Putin “a war criminal” as Washington slaps fresh punitive measures on the Kremlin.

As the world reacts with horror to images from Bucha, Russia has called the photos “fake”. “The world has already seen many war crimes. At different times. On different continents. But it is time to do everything so that the war crimes of the Russian military become the last manifestation of such evil on earth,” the Ukraine president said in his daily nightly address.

Here are top updates on the Ukraine war:

1. The Ukrainian president on Monday visited the Bucha town as horrific images kept flooding social media. “These are war crimes and it will be recognized by the world as genocide. We know that thousands of people have been killed and tortured with extremities cut off, women raped, children killed,” he was quoted as saying by news agency AFP during his rare trip outside the capital city.

2. “The UK presidency of the Council will ensure the truth is heard about Russia’s war crimes. We will expose Putin’s war for what it really is,” Britain’s UN mission said on its official Twitter account.

3. Joe Biden, who earlier said that Russia’s Vladimir Putin can’t remain in power ( a comment that later prompted a clarification from White House), on Monday underlined: “You may remember I got criticized for calling Putin a war criminal. Well, the truth of the matter is we saw what happened in Bucha. This warrants him … he is a war criminal. … We have to continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons they need to continue the fight. And we have to gather all the detail, so this can be an actual, have a war crimes trial. This guy is brutal. And what’s happening in Bucha is outrageous,” he was quoted as saying by news agency AP.

4. The United States and Britain are planning to seek Moscow’s suspension from the UN Human Rights Council, reports have said. “The images out of Bucha and devastation across Ukraine require us to now match our words with action,” US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a tweet Monday. “We cannot let a member state that is subverting every principle we hold dear to continue to participate” in the council.

5. UN chief Antonio Guterres said he was deeply shocked “by the images of civilians killed in Bucha” as he called for an independent investigation.

6. The world is reacting with fresh punitive measures. While France said it is expelling 35 Russian diplomats, the US Treasury will not permit any dollar debt payments to be made from Russian government accounts at U.S. financial institutions, reports said.

7. Russia has vowed to “respond proportionately to the expulsion of its diplomats from a number of Western countries” as it denies the accusations of mass killings.

8. Last week, Ukraine had said it had retaken Kyiv completely from the Russian troops yet as the forces retreated, there were allegations of leaving behind mines.

9. According to reports, Russia has been dealing with drug shortages as the offensive continues in Ukraine.

10. More than 4 million people have been forced out of their homes in Ukraine while Kyiv says Russia has lost over 18,000 troops in nearly six weeks of the war.