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Ukraine accused Russia of acting like Nazis by launching an unprovoked attack on a neighboring country.
Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations (UN), said Russia was engaging in Nazi “cosplay” or “dress-up play” while addressing his Russian counterpart Vasily Nebenzya during a UN Security Council meeting. Thursday. Russia has faced multiple war crimes charges involving attacks against civilians since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last month.
“During these weeks, the international community has wrestled with the question, why?” Kyslytsya said during the meeting. “Why did the Russian Federation decide to disguise itself as the Nazi Third Reich by attacking the peaceful neighboring state and plunging the region into a war?”
“What are the reasons and what is the plan?” he added she. “Yesterday we got the answer: to kill Ukrainian children, 108 innocent souls so far.”
During a Security Council meeting that took place as the Russian invasion began on February 24, Kyslytsya told Nebenzya to “go straight to hell,” while maintaining that “there is no purgatory for war criminals.”
On Thursday, Kyslytsya quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin, who insisted on Wednesday that the war was proceeding “successfully” and “in strict accordance with pre-approved plans,” despite the fact that the leader of the Russian National Guard, Viktor Zolotov admitted some setbacks days before.
Kyslytsya also recalled that Putin’s remarks were made on the same day the Mariupol Drama Theater was destroyed by a Russian missile while more than 1,000 civilians, including many children, sheltered inside.
The UN has reported that at least 726 civilians have been killed in Ukraine, including 52 children. UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council meeting that “the real number is probably much higher,” noting that “hundreds” of residential buildings, hospitals and schools had been hit.
Ukraine said the Mariupol theater was attacked even though the word “children” was written outside in Russian letters large enough to be seen clearly on satellite images. Russia has denied carrying out the attack, claiming a battalion of Ukraine’s far-right nationalist National Guard was responsible.
Although the building was reduced to rubble, the BBC reported on Thursday that local authorities said the bomb shelter under the structure had remained intact. Multiple reports and social media posts from current and former Ukrainian officials indicated that hundreds may have survived the attack.
Former Donetsk Oblast Governor Sergiy Taruta said in a Facebook post that at least 130 people out of the 1,300 occupants had been rescued from the theater by Thursday morning.
Kyslytsya’s comments comparing the Russian invasion to Nazi Germany’s raids on Eastern European countries at the start of World War II were made shortly before the US Department of Defense (DoD) said that the Russian offensive had apparently ground to a halt after more than three weeks of relentless air and ground assaults.
“We have observed [continued Russian] naval activity in the northern Black Sea off the coast of Odessa, but we observed no shelling over the course of the last 24 hours,” a senior Defense Department official said in a statement. “AND [we haven’t seen] imminent signs of an amphibious assault on Odessa”.
“[The] Ukrainians are the reason why [the Russians] they haven’t been able to move forward,” the official added. “And it’s because they are very actively resisting any move by the Russians… We have anecdotal indications that Russian morale is slipping.”
news week contacted the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations for comment.