Ukraine demanded “fair punishment” for a seven-month-old invasion on Thursday, sending surprises around the world amid Russia’s largest conscription since World War II.
As a diplomatic clash loomed in New York, Ukraine implored the UN to establish a special tribunal and deprive Moscow of its UN Security Council veto power.
The Security Council has been unable to take effective action on Ukraine because Russia, along with the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and China, is a permanent veto-wielding member.
On Wednesday, addressing global leaders at the annual United Nations General Assembly, President Volodymyr said that a crime had been committed against Ukraine, and the country is demanding “just punishment.”
Earlier, President Vladimir Putin ordered the mobilisation of additional 300,000 Russians to fight, signalling a significant escalation of the conflict.
Russia’s campaign in Ukraine has already killed thousands of people, displaced millions, razed towns, harmed the global economy, and reignited Cold War tensions.
Following Kremlin pledges that it would not happen and a record of battlefield disasters in Ukraine, Mr Putin’s conscription push may be the riskiest domestic act of his two decades in power.
According to the monitoring organisation OVD-Info, approximately 1,400 individuals were detained in 38 Russian cities on Wednesday during anti-war rallies. According to independent news sites, several of those arrested were summoned to military enrollment offices on Thursday, the first full day of conscription.
