Russia's War On Ukraine, Day 6: Zelenskyy Gets Standing Ovation, Sergei Lavrov Gets Ignored

Good.

 Here is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressing the European parliament this morning, while the English translator gets emotional, as that enormous Russian convoy hangs out outside the capital, Kyiv — a senior US official says it's "stalled" — and in the aftermath of the Russian bombing of the central square of Kharkiv, an attack many are saying was just an absolute war crime.

"We desire to see our children alive. I think it's a fair one." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was met with a standing ovation from the European Parliament after a powerful speech that caused the EU translator on the English language feed to choke up with emotion.pic.twitter.com/kTlBGO6GEq

— CNN (@CNN) 1646140241 

"We have proven that at a minimum we are exactly the same as you," said Zelenskyy, as he again pleaded for EU membership. They gave him a standing ovation at the end, but not EU membership yet.

And here are over 100 diplomats walking out on Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as he spoke at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Walk out from the EU and its partners during the statement from Minister #Lavrov at the #ConferenceOnDisarmament this morning to show our support to Ukraine #StandWithUkrainepic.twitter.com/q6Tq8bdd1D

— France-Désarmement 🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@France-Désarmement 🇫🇷🇪🇺) 1646129942 

Asshole.

So that's how that's going.

Attacks are ongoing in Kharkiv and Kyiv. The   Washington Post  reports that a Russian missile apparently intended for the TV tower in Kyiv ended up hitting the Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial. Is that part of the "de-nazification" Putin was talking about? (Wonkette will have more on that one today.)

The central square attack in Kharkiv was caught on tape, and NBC News reports the International Criminal Court is opening a war crimes investigation. Zelenskyy said this morning that Russia should now be known as a terrorist state:

"This is terror against the city. This is terror against Kharkiv. Terror against Ukraine," Zelenskyy said in a morning speech. [...]

The attack, Zelenskyy said, was "outright, undisguised terror" that "no one will forgive. Nobody will forget."

"This attack on Kharkiv is a war crime," he said. "Russia is a terrorist state."

Zelenskyy called on "all countries of the world to immediately and effectively respond to this crime of the aggressor's tactics and to declare that Russia is committing state terrorism. We demand full responsibility for terrorists in international courts. "

All this is coming amidst reports that Russia is just really frustrated its war-murdering isn't going as smoothly as it hoped. Russian troops are low on food and gas, and those Ukrainians just refuse to back down. Putin himself is reportedly prone to outbursts right now!

War moves fast and changes fast, so follow the Washington Post 's live ticker, or one of the other live tickers, for the latest. The Biden administration said in a congressional briefing that around 1,500 Ukrainians have died so far. But that was last night. Now Kharkiv is reportedly surrounded and Ukrainian officials are worried Russia is going to start using the same strategies in Kyiv as it's using there. Who knows what the real numbers really are, at any given time?

But as of this second we're writing this, those major cities haven't fallen. Russia doesn't control Ukrainian airspace.

And the world continues to tell Russia just exactly what it thinks of what it's doing, and more and more cracks are starting to show for Russia.

Consider just a few things:

• Who's that fucking off out of the medieval gas station known as Russia right now? Oh just Shell and BP. Will Exxon be next?

• Who's neutral? Apparently not fuckin' Switzerland anymore. Its president announced that it's fully endorsing the EU's sanctions, and freezing a buncha fuckin' Swiss bank accounts.

• Want to use your Visa or Mastercard? Not in Russia, you don't. 

• Hey Russia, wanna play some sports? Well, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said international sports groups should kick the Russians out, so they did. FIFA, the governing body forfootcer socball footballsoccer kicked Russia out of World Cup qualifying playoffs, and World Rugby kicked Russia and Belarus out of a bunch of stuff. The international governing body for hockey kicked Russia and Belarus out of hockey . That's right, Vladimir Putin, your dumb fucking ass got your country kicked out of hockey . No more figure skating either, so maybe that'll finally get doping out of that sport.

• Russian money is a little bit less worthless today than it was yesterday, but they still declined to open up their stock market today.

• Noted anti-war hippies we mean Russian oligarchs Oleg Deripaska (who used to sign Paul Manafort's paychecks) and Mikhail Fridman (head of the Alfa Bank who was born in western Ukraine) are starting to speak out against the invasion.

•  So did three members of Russia's parliament. Reminder: In Russia, "parliament" means "rubber stamp for Putin" and "speak out" is not supposed to be a thing.

• "I also condemn the leadership of Russia ... under the auspices of recognizing the DPR and LPR, we hid plans to unleash a full-scale war with our closest neighbor." That was Vyacheslav Markhaev, a parliament member who really apparently bought it when Putin said he was just declaring independence for those two regions of Ukraine and that the tanks he was sending in were just for peacekeeping. You betcha.

That's just a few things .

We wish we could say some of that was "good" news, but the word "good" just isn't appropriate. As President Zelenskyy said this morning to the European Parliament, "I cannot say good morning or good evening … because every day for some people this day is not good. For some people this day is the last one. I speak today now of my citizens, citizens of Ukraine …”

So we'll just stick with whatever Zelenskyy says, and note that whatever Russia is going through right now, it's a consequence of its own shitty failed leader's actions.

[ NBC News ]

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