Volodymyr Zelensky made the appeal in a video address on Tuesday night, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
'Sham referenda'
Zelensky said that Russia’s plan to annex occupied areas of Ukraine as a result of illegitimate referenda "is an attempt to steal the territory of another state ... a very cynical attempt to force the male population in the occupied territory of Ukraine to mobilise into the Russian army in order to send them to fight against their own homeland."
"In front of the eyes of the whole world, Russia is conducting these so-called sham referenda on the occupied territory of Ukraine," he told the UNSC, adding: "People are forced to fill out some papers while being threatened by submachine guns."
'Complete isolation' of Russia
Zelensky urged the international community to completely isolate Russia by depriving it of permanent membership of the Security Council — with the right of veto — and excluding it from all international organisations.
He also called on nations to slap global sanctions on Russia, provide Ukraine with necessary defence and financial support and give Ukraine "clear and legally-binding guarantees of collective security."
"Such a clear signal is what is now needed from every country in the world. I believe in your ability to act," the Ukrainian president said.
Zelensky also accused Russia of nuclear blackmail and of “waging a genocidal policy,” saying that Vladimir Putin’s recent troop call-up was disproportionately targeting indigenous peoples of the Caucasus and Siberia, as well as Crimean Tatars.
Meanwhile, the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said the United States had drafted a resolution to reject Russia’s referendum votes in Ukraine and was “calling on member states not to recognise any altered status of Ukraine and obligating Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine.”
Rosemary DiCarlo, the UN’s under-secretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs, told the UNSC that the referendum votes being conducted by Russian officials in Ukrainian territory “cannot be regarded as legal under international law.”
Wednesday is day 217 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, cnbc.com, thehill.com, telegraph.co.uk