President Zelensky accuses Russia of WAR CRIMES over brutal shelling of Kharkiv which saw 11 civilians killed and schools destroyed as Ukraine's ambassador to the US claims Putin dropped deadly VACUUM BOMB during invasion
- In an address last night, Zelensky said there would 'definitely be an international tribunal' against Russia
- He said it had committed a 'violation of all conventions' after launching an attack on eastern city of Kharkiv
- Attack with alleged cluster bombs on the city today killed at least 11 and injured 44
- Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S. claimed that Russia has also used a vacuum bomb during its invasion
- If Russia is confirmed to have used cluster bombs it could constitute a war crime
Ukraine's president has accused Russia of war crimes after Vladimir Putin's forces launched what were believed to be cluster and vacuum bomb attacks in an attempt to turn the tide of a conflict that they have so-far been losing.
In a late night address directed at Russia, Volodymyr Zelensky said there would 'definitely be an international tribunal' for what he said was a 'violation of all conventions' and added that 'no one in the world will forgive you for killing peaceful Ukrainian people.' Prosecutors at The Hague say they intend to open a probe 'as soon as possible.'
Zelensky spoke after what appeared to be a cluster bomb attack on the city of Kharkiv on Monday which killed at least 11 people and wounded scores more, and after Ukraine's ambassador to the US accused Putin's forces of using a banned thermobaric bomb on the capital of Kyiv overnight.
The bombardment of Kharkiv continued Tuesday morning with a rocket landing just in front of the civilian public administration building, destroying the road outside and blowing the windows out of the building itself. Footage from inside shows the building was heavily damaged, with ceilings collapsing and rubble strewn around.
It came as Russia's invasion of Ukraine - which met with heavy defeat in its initial plan to seize key targets and infrastructure in precision strikes - entered a new phase, with the aim seemingly to surround and besiege cities such as Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mariupol, Sumy and Kherson which have so-far put up fierce resistance - and bomb them into submission using indiscriminate weapons in echoes of tactics Russia used against rebel forces in Syria while fighting alongside dictator Basahar al-Assad.
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A military source told MailOnline that videos of the onslaught showed 'cluster' munitions - which are illegal under international law - had been used.
'The BM-21 Grad is a multiple launch rocket system used for "area denial", dropping cluster bombs on a concentrated area,' the expert said. 'It's mainly used on enemy troops before an offensive. Used against civilians, it's not only a war crime, but has only one purpose – to spread terror and alarm among the civilian population.'
Later on Monday, Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S. claimed that Russia used a devastating vacuum bomb on Ukraine.
Oksana Markarova, speaking after briefing members of the U.S. congress, said: 'They used the vacuum bomb today, which is actually prohibited by the Geneva convention. The devastation that Russia is trying to inflict on Ukraine is large.'
The vacuum bombs, which are also known as thermobaric weapons, can vaporise bodies and crush internal organs. They use oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion, typically producing a blast wave of a significantly longer duration than that of a conventional explosive.
They are among the most powerful non-nuclear weapons ever developed.
Ms Markarova's comments came after the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said he plans to open an investigation 'as rapidly as possible' into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
As Russia's attempt to overwhelm Ukrainian forces continued, security sources said that, 96 hours in to the invasion, Putin had 'stirred up a hornets' nest' by 'underestimating the strength of the resistance' and the 'will of the people to fight'.
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Graphic images and video revealed streets littered with the bodies of dead and badly wounded civilians, with other images showing showing spent BM-21 Grad rocket cartridges laying in the streets and having fallen through apartment roofs.
Cluster munitions were also to destroy a school in Okhtyrka, activist group Amnesty said, in which three people including a child were killed. The attack 'appears to have been carried out by Russian forces, which were operating nearby, and which have a record of using cluster munitions in populated areas,' Amnesty said.
'There is no possible justification for dropping cluster munitions in populated areas, let alone near a school,' secretary Agnes Callamard added.
The blasts mark some of the most serious attacks on civilians since the war began five days ago, and came after the first round of Ukraine-Russian peace talks - held in Belarus - ended without resolutions.
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Speaking on Monday morning, President Volodymyr Zelensky called for Ukraine to be 'immediately' admitted to the EU - after the alliance stepped up to supply hundreds of million of dollars of military aid to Ukraine, a first in the bloc's history - saying his country had 'earned' the right. He also said Russia's attack had so-far killed 15 children, and wounded dozens more.
U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet says her office has confirmed that 102 civilians, including 7 children, have been killed, and 304 others injured in violence in Ukraine since Thursday, as she cautioned that the tally was likely a vast undercount.
It came amid reports that Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko is poised to throw his own troops into the fighting, which US intelligence said could come as soon as Monday. The move follows on from Chechen forces being thrown into battle, which led to the almost-immediate destruction of a column of armoured vehicles and the death of one of their top generals.
Belarus on Sunday also voted to amend the country's constitution allowing them to host Russian nuclear weapons, which came after Vladimir Putin's chilling order to his defence chiefs to put the country's nuclear weapons on 'alert' in response to 'threats' from the West.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Monday that Russia's decision to raise the nuclear alert was 'a reckless, dangerous decision'. He added: 'There's no reason for that. NATO is no threat to Russia. We don't seek confrontation with Russia.'
In his address on Monday evening, Zelensky said that, since the beginning of Russia's invasion, 56 missile strikes and 113 cruise missiles had been launched in Ukraine by Putin's forces.
He added: 'Today, Russian forces brutally fired on Kharkiv from jet artillery. It was clearly a war crime.'
'Kharkiv is a peaceful city, there are peaceful residential areas, no military facilities. Dozens of eyewitness accounts prove that this is not a single false volley, but deliberate destruction of people: the Russians knew where they were shooting.'
'There will definitely be an international tribunal for this crime — it's a violation of all conventions. No one in the world will forgive you for killing peaceful Ukrainian people,' he said.
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It [UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson stressing the need for allies to continue to provide Kyiv with defensive weapons] came as the ICC's chief Karim Khan said he is planning a war crimes investigation.
Mr Khan said in a statement that its investigation will look at alleged crimes committed before the Russian invasion, but added that 'given the expansion of the conflict in recent days, it is my intention that this investigation will also encompass any new alleged crimes falling within the jurisdiction of my office that are committed by any party to the conflict on any part of the territory of Ukraine'.
The court already has conducted a preliminary probe into crimes linked to the violent suppression of pro-European protests in Kyiv in 2013-2014 by a pro-Russian Ukrainian administration and allegations of crimes in Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, and eastern Ukraine, where Russia has backed rebels since 2014.
In December 2020, then-ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said the probe uncovered indications that 'a broad range of conduct constituting war crimes and crimes against humanity within the jurisdiction of the Court have been committed' in Ukraine.
However, the court's prosecutors had not yet sought permission from judges to open a full-scale investigation.
Mr Khan says he now wants to open the investigation envisaged by his predecessor and broaden it to include crimes committed in fighting since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last week.
Mr Khan said he would continue to monitor developments in Ukraine, where there have been reports of civilian casualties, and he called for 'restraint and strict adherence to the applicable rules of international humanitarian law'.
UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet says her office has confirmed that 102 civilians, including seven children, have been killed in the Russian invasion and 304 others wounded in Ukraine since Thursday.
She cautioned that the tally was likely a vast undercount.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine is among the court's 123 member states, but Ukraine has accepted the court's jurisdiction, which empowers Mr Khan to investigate.
Mr Khan has told his team to explore how to preserve evidence of crimes and said that the next step is to seek authorisation from the court's judges to open an investigation.
However, he added that the process would be speeded up if a member nation of the court were to ask for an investigation in what is known as a referral.
That 'would allow us to actively and immediately proceed with the (prosecution) Office's independent and objective investigations,' Mr Khan said.
He said he also would seek support from the court's member states and the international community to fund the investigation.
'I will be calling for additional budgetary support, for voluntary contributions to support all our situations, and for the loan of gratis personnel,' he said.
'The importance and urgency of our mission is too serious to be held hostage to lack of means.'
The blast in Brovary is said to have left people wounded, the area's mayor said in a Facebook post on Monday night.
Monday's peace talks ended without resolutions and a second round of negotiations will be held in the coming days, with a member of the Ukrainian delegation saying the discussions were difficult and the Russian side was biased.
Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter: 'The Russian side, unfortunately, still has a very biased view of the destructive processes it has launched.'
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Ukraine had indicated it would request a ceasefire and full withdrawal of Russian forces but Moscow remained tight lipped over what the negotiations, held at noon in Gomel in southeastern Belarus, would entail
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A senior U.S. defence official said Russia had fired more than 350 missiles at Ukrainian targets since it launched the invasion last week, some hitting civilian infrastructure.
'It appears that they are adopting a siege mentality, which any student of military tactics and strategy will tell you, when you adopt siege tactics, it increases the likelihood of collateral damage,' the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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