Horror as Russia accused of using ‘stolen Western weapons’ to ‘cover up’ war crimes
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY has accused Russia of using Western weapons to commit and cover-up atrocities in Ukraine.
Ukraine: 'Russia is losing too' says President Zelensky
The Ukrainian leader has called for a Nuremberg-style court to hold Moscow to account. The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II.
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The warning came as officials said some 23,000 war crimes were now being investigated in the wake of Russia’s invasion on February 24.
At a conference in The Hague, Netherlands, 45 countries on Thursday vowed to work together to support Kyiv in bringing Russian forces in Ukraine to justice.
Mr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, urged the war crimes conference to create a special tribunal to try Mr Putin’s Russia for its ongoing war of “aggression”.
He was speaking hours after Russian forces launched a deadly strike in the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia.
Three children were among at least 23 civilians killed when three Kalibr cruise missiles, fired from a submarine in the Black Sea, smashed into the centre of the city, far from the front-line.
Mr Zelensky told his audience: “This is an audacious act of Russian terror. People couldn’t do that. They are beasts.
“Millions were deported to Russia or made homeless by hostilities.
“It is still being established how many children Russian forces abducted and took out of Ukraine ... the preliminary figure is dreadful – about 200,000 children.”
READ MORE: Russian troops look terrified as they witness Ukrainian attack remains
Since the beginning of the war, more than 6,000 civilians have been killed in Russian attacks, including some 650 children.
Ukraine on Thursday proposed a parliamentary commission to track weapons received from Kyiv’s foreign allies.
Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office, acknowledged Western concerns that weapons they had supplied – including high-tech multi launch rocket systems – could fall into enemy hands.
He said: “All received Western weapons are registered and sent to the front. Everything is clearly controlled and now this process will become even more open.”
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A report published by the Origination for Security and Co-operation in Europe expressed “grave concern” over tens of thousands of Ukrainians being forcibly deported by Russia.
The US estimates more than 1.6 million Ukrainians, including 260,000 children, have been snatched from their homes to be detained and interrogated at so-called “filtration camps”.
