Russia is using food, energy and kidnapped children as weapons in war against Ukraine: Zelensky
Russian authorities have denied any forced transfers of children and said some Ukrainian children are in ‘care centres’. Russia will get a chance to address the General Assembly on Saturday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that Russia was “weaponizing” everything from food and energy to kidnapped children in its war against Ukraine. He warned world leaders that the same could happen to them.
“When hatred is weaponized against a nation, it does not stop there,” he said at the annual top-level meeting of the UN General Assembly.
“The goal of the current war against Ukraine is to turn our land, our people, our lives, our resources into weapons against you … against the international rules-based order,” Zelensky said.
He pointed to the impact of the war on fuel and food supplies. He also raised the issue of the abduction of thousands of children from the country after the Russian invasion. “What will happen to them?” Zelensky said. “Those children in Russia are taught to hate Ukraine. All their relations with their families have been severed. This is clearly genocide.”
In March, the International Court of Justice issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin and another official accusing them of kidnapping children from Ukraine.
Russian authorities have denied any forced transfers of children and said some Ukrainian children are in ‘care centres’. Russia will get a chance to address the General Assembly on Saturday.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to take the stage that day. Deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyansky was sitting in Russia’s seat during Zelensky’s speech.
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