Ukraine’s Zelensky urges ‘special tribunal’ into Russian invasion following latest deadly attack
- President Zelensky says a tribunal is needed that ‘will ensure the fair and lawful punishment of those who started this series of disasters’
- Zelensky’s speech came after a Russian strike killed at least 20 civilians, including children, in Vinnytsia – a city hundreds of kilometres from the frontlines
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday called for a “special tribunal” to investigate Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, addressing a conference at The Hague focused on war crimes in Ukraine.
“Existing judicial institutions cannot bring all the guilty parties to justice. Therefore, a special tribunal is needed to address the crime of Russian aggression against Ukraine,” Zelensky told the gathering via video link.
“A tribunal that will ensure the fair and lawful punishment of those who started this series of disasters”, he added. “There must be a mandatory and principled punishment for all Russian criminals”, he said.
Zelensky’s speech at The Hague came hours after a Russian strike killed at least 20 civilians, including children, in Vinnytsia in central Ukraine, a city that is hundreds of kilometres from the frontlines. President Zelensky called the attack “an open act of terrorism”.
Organised by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the European Commission and the Netherlands, the event at The Hague was aiming to ensure that crimes committed since the Russian invasion do not go unpunished.