Russia: Evidence of Ukrainian Military’s Crimes Provided to UN

According to Russia's envoy to the United Nations (UN) Vasily Nebenzya, at an informal meeting of the UN Security Council under the Arria formula, Russian diplomats provided evidence of crimes committed by Ukrainian armed forces and nationalist units in connection with the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. 

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The Russian diplomat referred to the Ukrainian military's violation of international humanitarian law, which has deployed heavy equipment in residential areas and used civilians as human shields. 

In this regard, Nebenzya said that Russia has real grounds to claim that the armed forces of Ukraine and its paramilitary units systematically violate the principles of international law. He said there are many eyewitness accounts of the Ukrainian military taking civilians hostage and using them as human shields.       

At the meeting, a diagram was presented showing the Ukrainian military positioned in residential buildings in the midst of civilian infrastructure. The diagram showed that tanks are placed on the 1st floor, with civilians staying in the center and snipers, troops with MANPADS and heavy weapons working on the upper floors and roof.

United Nations: Asserting that there will be no winning side in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, India has told the UN Security Council that diplomacy will be an enduring casualty while stressing the immediate need to evacuate innocent civilians from areas witnessing heavy fighting.

Footagee of interviews with civilians who told how they had escaped from the war zone was also presented. They said that the Ukrainian military fired at the vehicles of people trying to evacuate through the humanitarian corridors. The idea that Russian service members were implicated in the Mariupol theater explosion is flatly rejected by one of the residents in the video.   

Last February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a special military operation in Ukraine following Kiev's breach of the Minsk agreements and Moscow's eventual recognition of the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.

Since then, the West and its European backers have imposed punitive sanctions on Russia, targeting its businesses and the oil and gas industry. Moscow has demanded Ukraine's non-inclusion in the U.S.-led NATO military bloc and has also denounced the continued support for Ukraine by Western countries and their allies, who have been delivering massive arms shipments to help the country wage war against Russia.