Zelenskyy calls Russia a 'terrorist state' in UN address

Ukrainian President demands removal of Moscow from Security Council

Ukraine an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over Russian strikes on civilian targets. AFP.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of being a "terrorist state" on Tuesday, prompting Russia to claim he was using the UN Security Council address as a "remote PR campaign" for more western weapons.

Mr Zelenskyy urged the council to expel Moscow from the UN and create a tribunal to investigate actions of the Russian military in Ukraine.

But Russia, as a permanent member of the council, holds the power of veto and can protect itself from any such action.

"Russia does not have the right to take part in discussing and voting in regard to the war in Ukraine, which is unprovoked and simply colonialist on the part of Russia," Mr Zelenskyy told the council.

"I urge you to deprive the delegation of the terrorist state of its powers."

Moscow calls its invasion a "special military operation" to rid Ukraine of fascists, an assertion the Kyiv government and western allies say is a baseless pretext for an unprovoked war.

All 15 Security Council members, including Russia, stood for a moment of silence after Mr Zelenskyy asked them to "commemorate all the Ukrainians who have been killed in this war".

Russia's deputy UN ambassador, Dmitry Polyanskiy, told the council that Mr Zelenskyy's appearance by video undermined the authority of the body, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security.

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  Ukrainian servicemen in a shelter at the frontline near Kharkiv. AP

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  A Ukrainian and his puppy in the Donetsk region. AP

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  Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, third left, is shown apartment buildings damaged by Russian shelling during his visit to Irpin on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP

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  Rescue specialists work at the site of a destroyed residential building after blasts in Belgorod, Russia. Reuters

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  A woman lays flowers during a demonstration against the invasion of Ukraine in front of the Palais des Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland. EPA

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  A woman injured when her house was damaged by the Russian shelling sits in the yard of her house, in Bakhmut, Ukraine. AP

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  Local residents stand next to a damaged residential building in the town of Serhiivka, about 50 kilometres south-west of Odesa, Ukraine. AP

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  Viktor Shevchenko stands in a crater to show its depth after a Russian shelling in the Saltivka district in Kharkiv. AP

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  An image taken from a video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office purports to show the moment a missile struck the shopping mall in Kremenchuk. AP

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  People watch as smoke rises after a Russian missile strike hit a crowded shopping mall, in Kremenchuk. AP

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  Firefighters clean the rubble of the destroyed Amstor shopping mall in Kremenchuk. EPA

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  A woman cries after the body of her husband, who was killed in the yard of an apartment building during shelling, was loaded into an ambulance in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP

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  Firefighters and rescue workers at the destroyed Amstor shopping mall. EPA

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  Rescuers work at the site of a shopping mall hit by a Russian missile strike, in Kremenchuk. Reuters

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  A couple wounded by a Russian missile strike hold hands in a hospital, in Kremenchuk. Reuters

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  People wait to receive humanitarian aid in front of a residential building damaged during a Russian attack in Borodyanka, Ukraine. EPA

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  Ukrainian servicemen take a bus to their positions near Severodonetsk, in Luhansk area. EPA

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  A Ukrainian service member and a dog in the industrial area of the city of Severodonetsk. Reuters

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  A couple sits in front of a residential building that was damaged during a Russian attack, in Borodyanka. EPA

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  Local residents receive humanitarian aid in Borodyanka. EPA

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  A Ukrainian armed forces tank in Severodonetsk. Reuters

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  Ukrainian service members walk past a damaged car in Severodonetsk. Reuters

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  A giant Ukrainian flag is held up during the benefit concert 'Embrace Ukraine' on the Museumplein in Amsterdam. The free event will raise money for victims of the war in Ukraine and the purchase of mobile X-ray equipment that the country needs. EPA

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  A fire from a gas processing plant continues to burn behind a field of wheat after it was hit by shelling a few days earlier in Andriivka, in the Kharkiv region. Reuters

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  An onlooker takes in the damage from overnight shelling on Kharkiv's Housing and Communal College. Reuters

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  A destroyed tank in the village of Novoselivka, outside Chernigiv. AFP

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  A man decorates a toy cabin for children made from used ammunition crates in the village of Novoselivka, outside Chernigiv. AFP

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  An internal view of the Housing and Communal College building damaged by recent shelling in Kharkiv. EPA

"The UN Security Council should not be turned into a platform for a remote PR campaign for President Zelenskyy in order to get more weapons from participants of the Nato summit," Mr Polyanskiy said.

The council met after Ukraine said Russia deliberately launched a missile at a shopping mall on Monday, killing at least 18 people.

Russia denied hitting the mall with missiles, saying it had struck a nearby depot of US and European weapons, causing an explosion that led to a fire in the mall.

"We have run out of words to describe the senselessness, futility and cruelty of this war," UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the council.

Ms DiCarlo urged all parties to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.