E-Paper
Ukraine war: Zelenskyy slams European 'indecisiveness' over sanctions on Russia
Addressing the Irish Parliament, the Ukraine president said new "rhetoric" about sanctions had emerged, "but I cannot tolerate any indecisiveness after everything we have gone through and everything that Russia has done to us".
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday condemned hesitancy in Europe over stopping Russian energy imports, claiming that some leaders were more concerned with business losses than with war crimes. Addressing the Irish Parliament, Zelenskyy said new "rhetoric" about sanctions had emerged, "but I cannot tolerate any indecisiveness after everything we have gone through and everything that Russia has done to us".
His statement comes as the Russian invasion of Ukraine entered its 42nd day.
"In the 21st century, they are looking at their country as a colonial empire…Russia should be held responsible," he said.
Zelenskyy alleged that Russia was using hunger as a weapon in its war and an instrument of domination. He accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to cut off vital food supplies for people in Ukraine and also further afield by preventing cargo from being exported.
Zelenskyy also claimed Russia had carried out missile strikes on a Ukrainian oil depot overnight.
"We still need to convince Europe that Russian oil cannot feed the Russian military machine with new sources of funding," Zelensky added, calling also for the total exclusion of Russian banks from Western finance.
"The only thing we are lacking is the principled approach of some leaders -- political leaders, business leaders -- who still think that war and war crimes are not as horrific as financial losses," he said, speaking through an interpreter.
The European Union is all set to impose a fifth round of sanctions cutting off Russian coal imports, while NATO and G7 foreign ministers are gathering in Brussels for further steps on coordinated action.
However, Germany and some other EU countries have been reluctant to hit all Russian energy exports because of the damage it would do to their own economies.
Also Read | India in touch with Ukraine's neighbours for studies of medical evacuees
In an address on Tuesday to the UN Security Council, Zelenskyy had said civilians in towns around Kyiv were tortured, shot in the back of the head, thrown down wells, blown up with grenades in their apartments and crushed to death by tanks while in cars.
Those who carried out the killings and those who gave the orders “must be brought to justice immediately for war crimes” in front of a tribunal similar to the one established at Nuremberg after World War II, he said.
“But we don't have a choice — the fate of our land and of our people is being decided," he said.
"We know what we are fighting for. And we will do everything to win.”
Russia has insisted its troops have committed no war crimes.
Moscow's UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said “not a single local person" suffered from violence while Bucha was under Russian control.
Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region governor Valentyn Reznichenko said Russian forces attacked a fuel depot overnight. The number of casualties was unclear.
“The night was alarming and difficult. The enemy attacked our area from the air and hit the oil depot and one of the plants. The oil depot with fuel was destroyed. Rescuers are still putting out the flames at the plant," Reznichenko said on the messaging app Telegram earlier in the day.
In Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region, shelling of Rubizhne city on Tuesday killed one person and injured five more, its governor Serhiy Haidai said on Telegram.
Parts of Donetsk and Luhansk have been under the control of Russia-backed rebels since 2014 and are recognised by Moscow as independent states. So far, Ukrainian forces have been holding back Russian troops trying to push east but remain outnumbered in both troops and equipment, Zelenskyy said in a video address to his country late Tuesday.
Evidence of what appears to be intentional killings of civilians in Bucha and other towns before Russian forces withdrew from the outskirts of Kyiv has drawn a global outcry. Western nations have expelled scores of Moscow's diplomats and are expected to roll out more sanctions on Wednesday.
(With inputs from agencies)
