Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy demanded punishment for Russia for the war in Ukraine, which has left thousands of people killed, displaced millions, and reduced towns to rubble.
During a video address on Wednesday to the United Nations General Assembly, Zelenskyy called for a special tribunal to punish Russia for its aggression. “A crime has been committed against Ukraine, and we demand just punishment,” he told the UN body. “Ukraine demands punishment for trying to steal our territory,” Zelenskyy said. “Punishment for the murders of thousands of people. Punishment for the tortures and humiliations of women and men,” he added.
Zelenskiy’s address to world leaders came after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial military mobilisation in Moscow. Russia plans to conscript around 300,000 troops in an apparent escalation of its Ukraine invasion that began in February this year.
A special tribunal should be created to punish Russia for the crime of aggression against our state Russia should pay for this war with its assets,” the Ukrainian president said further in the video message.
Earlier, President Vladimir Putin announced that he had signed a decree on partial mobilisation in Russia amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. “In order to protect our homeland, its sovereignty, and territorial integrity, and to ensure the security of our people and those in the liberated territories, I consider it necessary to support the proposal of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff to conduct partial mobilisation in the Russian Federation,” he said during a national address.Referendums on joining Russia will be held in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions in eastern Ukraine, on September 23–27.