Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, is scheduled to address Congress virtually Wednesday, almost exactly five months after Russia launched its brutal invasion against her country.
The first lady’s speech will follow repeated calls by her husband, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and top officials in Kyiv for the US to provide additional aid in the war against Moscow.
Volodymyr Zelensky initially urged the US to deliver long-range missile systems to his country March 16 in his own address to Congress. Ukraine’s president also called for a no-fly zone over his country – a plea the West has repeatedly rejected over fears of escalating the conflict into a wider war.
“Russian troops have already fired nearly 1,000 missiles at Ukraine, countless bombs,” the Ukrainian president told lawmakers. “They use drones to kill us with precision. This is a terror that Europe has not seen for 80 years … to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine to save people, is this too much to ask?”
“Russia has attacked not just us, not just our land, not just our cities, it went on a brutal offensive against our values, basic human values,” Zelensky later said, accusing the Kremlin of attacking Ukraine’s “right to live freely.”
Earlier this month, Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov called on the US to send more long-range rocket systems.
“President Putin and his government will not be able to engage in these systematic abuses with impunity. Accountability is imperative,” Blinken said. “This is why we are supporting Ukrainian and international authorities’ efforts to collect, document and preserve evidence of atrocities. Together, we are dedicated to holding perpetrators of war crimes and other atrocities accountable.”
While Russia has continuously denied that it is targeting civilians, US intelligence has identified at least 18 “filtration” camps set up by Moscow to detain and forcibly detain Ukrainian civilians, according to the New York Times.
One diplomat, Courtney Austrian, the deputy head of the US mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, told the outlet that the intelligence has indicated that preparations for such operations began even before Russia officially invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.
“Russian officials likely created lists of Ukrainian civilians deemed threatening to Russia’s control of Ukraine, including anyone with pro-Ukraine views, such as political figures and activists, as well as security personnel, for detention and filtration,” Austrian said.
As dozens of Ukrainian civilians continue to die daily from Russian missile strikes, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor said Thursday it is time for an “overarching strategy” to bring the perpetrators to justice
“The simple truth is that, as we speak, children, women and men, the young and the old, are living in terror,” ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said, highlighting a need of “coordination, of coherence” and “the need of an overarching strategy.”