Zelensky to call for more help from West in address to UN Security Council

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday in an address to the United Nations Security Council will be asking for more help from Western allies in the country’s fight against Russia. 

The Ukrainian president will be addressing the council as the war continues into its second month, according to multiple reports. 

In a video on Monday, Zelensky said that the death toll could rise as Ukrainian forces target areas occupied by Russia and as Russian troops withdraw. 

Russia has previously said its forces would decrease in areas such as Kyiv and Chernobyl as a sign of good faith during peace negotiations, but Ukrainian and U.S. officials say the Kremlin made the move in an attempt to focus fighting in the more eastern parts of Ukraine. 

Zelensky’s address comes as images of civilian deaths from the Kyiv suburb of Bucha have sparked international outrage, with a number of officials accusing Russia of war crimes including sexual violence against women and executing citizens.

President Biden on Monday said that Russian President Vladimir Putin should face trial for war crimes he says have been committed in Ukraine.

The Pentagon called the images “deeply troubling,” though it said it could not confirm the atrocities in Bucha.

Zelensky called the actions genocide. 

“These are war crimes and will be recognized by the world as genocide,” Zelensky said. “We know of thousands of people killed and tortured, with severed limbs, raped women and murdered children.”
The International Criminal Court in the Hague would be the system that could put Putin on trial, but has little enforcement power for its rulings.