A residential building in Ukraine bombed
U.S. senate unanimously condemns ‘war criminal’ Putin, as Russian troops abduct another Ukraine mayor
U.S. Senate on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal, a rare show of unity in the deeply divided Congress.
The resolution, introduced by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and backed by senators of both parties, encouraged the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague and other nations to target the Russian military in any investigation of war crimes committed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“All of us in this chamber joined together, with Democrats and Republicans, to say that Vladimir Putin cannot escape accountability for the atrocities committed against the Ukrainian people,” Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor ahead of the vote.
Russia calls its actions a ‘special military operation’ to demilitarise and ‘denazify’ Ukraine.
Putin has also called the country a U.S. colony with a puppet regime and no tradition of independent statehood.
However, Moscow has not captured any of the 10 biggest cities in the country following its incursion that began on February 24, the largest assault on a European state since 1945.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Skadovsk, Oleksandr Yakovlyev, and his deputy, Yurii Palyukh, have allegedly been abducted by Russian forces.
Skadovsk is a port city in the Kherson region of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, announced the abduction of Yakovlyvev and his deputy in a tweet Wednesday morning.
“Russian invaders continue to abduct democratically elected local leaders in Ukraine. Mayor of Skadovsk Oleksandr Yakovlyev and his deputy Yurii Palyukh abducted today,” Kuleba wrote.
Russia has claimed it is in control of the entire Kherson region now, after taking the city near the beginning of the invasion, Sky News reports.
The mayor of the southern town of Dniprorudne, Yevheniy Matvieyev, joijsa another colleague, the mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, also said to have been kidnapped.
Kuleba called on international organisations to demand the release of all kidnapped Ukrainian officials.
“States & international organisations must demand Russia to immediately release all abducted Ukrainian officials!” he wrote.
