April 5, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Since the start of the economic sanctions against Russia, Belgium has blocked 196.4 billion euros (or about $215 billion) worth of transactions and 2.7 billion euros ($3 billion) in Russian assets in the latest figures announced by the Belgian Minister of Finance Vincent Van Peteghem.

In a statement, the Belgian Finance Ministry said the frozen assets belong to 877 people and 62 entities that appear on the European sanctions list, and the blocked transactions are the result of the other restrictions imposed by the European Union on Russia.

Additionally, Belgian customs officials have also searched 23,191 containers in Belgian ports since the sanctions began.

From those searches, “an infringement was observed on 3 containers containing luxury products,” the Ministry said.

Furthermore, “1,000 luxury vehicles” are being held at the Port of Zebrugge waiting for inspection.

“These are shipments from outside the EU and sold to Russian customers. The shipments were already on their way when the sanctions were published,” the statement read.

In a statement, Van Peteghem said: “The financial sanctions against Russia are already having a major impact today,” but cautioned, “it is clearly not enough for the Russian regime to stop the brutal invasion and inhumane war scenes.”

“That is why we should not hesitate and push through with a fifth package of sanctions,” he added. 

He also called on, “all Member States to follow the measures very strictly, just like Belgium."

At least 1,480 civilians have been killed and at least 2,195 have been injured in Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, said Rosemary DiCarlo, the United Nations' under secretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs.

Citing updated numbers from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, DiCarlo said OHCHR believes the actual figures of civilian casualties to be “considerably higher.”

She noted that the number of Ukrainian civilians in the conflict has “more than doubled” since she last briefed the Security Council on March 17. 

DiCarlo also noted that medical care and basic services are also being disrupted in Ukraine, with at least 85 attacks on health care facilities recorded as of April 4, according to the World Health Organization. These attacks have resulted in at least 72 deaths and 43 injuries, DiCarlo said.

The UN is also “seriously concerned” about the “arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances of persons who have been vocal against the Russian invasion,” DiCarlo said.

“OHCHR has documented the arbitrary detention and possible enforced disappearance of 22 journalists and civil society members” in Ukraine, as well as 24 local officials who have been detained in regions under Russian control, 13 of whom have been released, DiCarlo said. She added that as of March 30, OHCHR has also recorded seven journalists and media workers killed.

There have been allegations “of conflict-related sexual violence” by both Russian and Ukrainian forces and civil defense militias, DiCarlo continued. “The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine continues to seek to verify all these allegations."

US Permanent Representative to NATO Julianne Smith said Tuesday that the alliance is gathering evidence to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin and his team accountable for “war crimes” in Ukraine.  

“What we have to do is collect the information we need to hold Putin and his team in Moscow accountable, and you can do that through multiple paths there of course is the ICC path. There's a United Nations option. There are multiple ways to do that,” she said at a news conference in Brussels.   

Answering a question about how United States will help with the investigation to the alleged war crimes committed by the Russian forces in Ukraine, Smith said, “First and foremost, what we want to do is ensure that we expose the truth and in order to expose the truth and fully understand what is happening on the ground we need to collect as much information as possible.”  

“We are now relying on first-hand accounts from Ukrainian citizens. We are seeing some international organizations, NGOs are starting to collect information as well. Putting together a narrative, trying to put together some sense of what has gone on, as we've looked again at these horrific images coming out of Bucha, but, but possibly in other locations as well,” she added.   

Smith cautioned that it is “too soon to say definitively what happened” in Bucha and other cities where alleged war crimes have been committed by Russia, but added that “we're quite confident that […] we will be able to put together the evidence we need to hold Putin accountable.”  

She said that one of NATO’s strategies to take preventive actions in Ukraine has been to try to get out ahead of Putin’s “strategic choices." 

“If you call them out on what we believe they might be planning maybe that alters, his calculus, a little bit," the ambassador added.  

In his Tuesday address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the United Nations Security Council to provide security guarantees to Ukraine.

"Where is the security that the Security Council needs to guarantee? It's not there. Although there is a Security Council. So where is the peace? What are those guarantees that the United Nations need to guarantee?" he asked in his speech.

Speaking through a translator, he stressed accountability for Russia "must be inevitable."

"I would like to remind you of Article 1, Chapter 1 of the UN Charter. What is the purpose of our organization? Its purpose is to maintain peace," he said. "And now the UN Charter has been violated literally, starting with Article 1. What is the point of all the other articles?"

Calling the Russian actions as "war crimes," Zelensky said he wants full and transparent investigations. He added:

"So, show all the other potential war criminals in the world how they will be punished if the biggest one is punished," he urged the UN Security Council.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for members of the Russian military and "those who gave them orders" to carry out attacks in Ukraine to be tried for "war crimes." 

He called for any Russians who have given "criminal orders" and "carried out them by killing our people" to be brought before a tribunal, similar to the Nuremberg trials that occurred after World War II when Nazis were put on trial. 

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that the horrors found in Bucha after Russia’s withdrawal there may also emerge in other cities across Ukraine. 

“Now the world can see what the Russian military did in Bucha while it was under their occupation, but it has yet to see what they have done in other occupied cities,” the president said during his remarks. 

He also demanded accountability, saying Ukraine was suffering the worst war crimes since the end of World War II with Russian troops targeting civilians with artillery and air strikes, creating mass starvation by blockading cities. 

“The massacre in our city Bucha is only one of many examples, unfortunately, of what the occupiers have been doing in our land for the past 41 days. And there are many more cities, similar places, where the world has yet to learn the full truth," Zelensky said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the UN Security Council that he expects Russians "will blame everyone just to justify their own actions" in Ukraine.

"They will say that there are various versions, different versions, it's impossible to establish which ones of those versions is true," he said, speaking through a translator, via videoconference. "They will even say that the bodies were, of those were allegedly thrown away and all the videos are staged, but it is 2022 now." 

Zelensky said "we have conclusive evidence that there are satellite images" that show what really happened during the attacks on Bucha, adding, "we can conduct full and transparent investigations."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky opened his remarks to the UN Security Council by addressing what he witnessed in Bucha, saying of the Russians who attacked the Kyiv suburb, "there is not a single crime they would not commit there."

Speaking through a translator, Zelensky said:

He said that the Russians killed civilians in Bucha "just for their pleasure." 

"They cut off limbs, slashed their throats, women raped and killed in front of their children. Their tongues were pulled out only because the aggressor did not hear what they wanted to hear from them," Zelensky added.

He said these actions are no different than "other terrorists." 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is now addressing the United Nations Security Council.

Earlier today, he spoke about the need for "serious players who are ready to go all the way" when it comes to security guarantees.

"We need serious players who are ready to go all the way. We need a circle of countries who would within 24 hours provide us with any weapons," Zelensky said.

He also cast doubt on the possibility of meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin after he accused Russia of genocide. Zelensky paid a visit to the Kyiv suburb of Bucha on Monday, an area where shocking images of civilian bodies strewn on the streets emerged over the weekend. During the visit he said that it was "very difficult to negotiate" with Russia "when you see what they have done here."