Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of carrying out a "genocide" in the eastern region of Donbas, where the city of Severodonetsk is suffering an onslaught of Russian shelling.
In his daily televised address, Zelensky condemned Moscow's brutal assault on the Donbas -- where it has redirected its forces after having failed to capture Kyiv -- adding that its bombardment could leave the entire "uninhabited" region.
Zelensky added: "All this, including the deportation of our people and the mass killings of civilians, is an obvious policy of genocide pursued by Russia."
Since 2014, pro-Russian separatist groups have controlled sections of Donbas, but Russia now appears intent on annexing the entire province.
Invading forces are closing in on a number of cities, notably Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, which are strategically placed on the key path to Ukraine's eastern administrative headquarters, Kramatorsk.
On Thursday, Russia and China vetoed a US draft resolution on expanding sanctions against North Korea, during a vote in the UN Security Council.
The remaining 13 countries in the council voted in favor of the draft resolution. The draft resolution contained a condemnation of North Korea’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, which it carried out on March 24, and other missile tests conducted by Pyongyang recently.
The resolution proposed reducing the volumes of crude oil supplied to North Korea in accordance with previous international resolutions, from 4 million barrels to 3 million barrels annually, as well as reducing the supplies of oil derivatives.
The project included a number of other restrictions on trade with North Korea, in addition to personal sanctions on a high-ranking North Korean official, whose work is related to overseeing the development of ballistic missiles, and the freezing assets of 3 entities in the country.
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