Zelensky tells UN: 'Act immediately or dissolve yourself altogether'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the United Nations to “during an address on Tuesday.

“Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready to close the UN? ... If your answer is no, then you need to act immediately,” he told the UN.  

Appearing by video link, Zelensky gave a detailed list of alleged atrocities by invading troops which have been discovered after Russia pulled back its troops from northern parts of his Ukraine.

He said Russian forces killed and tortured “just for pleasure” and went on to play a graphic video which appeared to show dead Ukrainians. The video has not yet been verified by major news outlets.

“Now the world can see what the Russian military did in Bucha,” Zelensky said.

The Ukrainian President demanded Moscow face “accountability”, calling for Russia to be removed from the UN Security Council.

He said civilians were “killed in their apartments, houses, blowed up with grenades, civilians were crushed by tanks while sitting in their cars in the middle of the road, just for their pleasure.”

The Ukrainian President went on to say women were “raped and killed in front of their children”.

“This is no different from other terrorists such as Daesh ... and here it is done by a member of the United Nations Security Council,” he said. “Accountability must be inevitable.”

Russia again denied accusations of war crimes in Ukraine, with its UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya telling the council there were “flagrant inconsistencies” in reports seen in Ukrainian and Western media.

He repeated a claim that the corpses found by reporters in Bucha were not there when Russian forces left the northern city – a claim that h­­­­as been debunked by the BBC.­­

The United States again called for Russia to be thrown off the UN’s Human Rights Council, while China, which has avoided criticising the Russian invasion, commented that the reports of civilian deaths were "very disturbing", but said any accusations should be based on verified facts.