Dhe Ukraine wants to hold Russia accountable for its war of aggression and the destruction it caused with the help of the international community. In his talks with foreign politicians and in exchanges between Ukrainian authorities and Western institutions, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily video address on Monday evening. “The main theme of all these events is Russia’s responsibility for war and terror.”
After briefly listing the latest Russian attacks and recent damage, including the water supply failure in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, Zelenskyy accused the invaders of destructiveness. “Well, what can one say about her? This is the real essence of these random comrades who took over Russia,” said Zelenskyy. “After 20 years of rule, a large part of their state is as ruined as if there had been a war.”
“They are capable of nothing but destruction,” the Ukrainian head of state accused the Russian leadership. “And what they are doing against Ukraine now is their attempt to take revenge. To take revenge for the fact that the Ukrainians have repeatedly defended themselves against them.” His country will defend itself against Russia with all means. “Ukraine will never take orders from these comrades in Moscow,” he said.
War crimes investigations
The justice ministers of the G-7 countries will deal with investigations into war crimes committed in Ukraine this Tuesday at a meeting in Berlin. Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann also invited a delegation from Ukraine to the deliberations.
The government in Kyiv advocates a special tribunal to prosecute Russian crimes in Ukraine, which deals with the crime of aggression under international law.
Russian attacks in Donbass
Even in the cold, sleet and rain, heavy fighting continues in the Donbass in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian armed forces fended off dozens of attack attempts by Russian troops every day, Serhiy Cherevatyy, spokesman for the Ukrainian army’s eastern group, said on Monday. The areas around Bakhmut and Avdiivka were at the center of the heaviest fighting. The Russian armed forces, supported by combat aircraft, used rocket launchers, mortars and tanks in addition to barrel artillery. The information could not be independently verified.