Russia will pay, will rebuild everything, says Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Russian troops were carrying out acts tantamount to war crimes and perpetrators need to be held accountable, said Ukraine's first deputy foreign minister Emine Dzhaparova

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday promised Ukrainians that damage to infrastructure inflicted by invading Russian forces would be repaired and that Moscow would foot the bill.

“We will restore every house, every street, every city and we say to Russia: learn the word of reparations and contributions. You will reimburse us for everything you did against our state, against every Ukrainian in full,” Zelenskyy said in a video statement. 

Russian troops were carrying out acts tantamount to war crimes and  perpetrators need to be held accountable, Ukraine’s first deputy foreign minister Emine Dzhaparova told an urgent debate at the UN Human Rights Councilsaid on Thursday.

Gennady Gatilov, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, denounced the “criminal regime in Kyiv” and accused the United States and European Union of supplying lethal weapons.