Ukraine parliament recognizes actions by Russian troops against Ukrainians as 'genocide'

The Verkhovna Rada said that recognition of those acts as ones of genocide against Ukraine was needed immediately.

Verkhovna Rada Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk alleged in a statement provided through the Verkhovna Rada’s Telegram channel that Russia’s actions were intended as “systematic and consistent destruction of the Ukrainian people” and were not just crimes of aggression.

“This is the first step towards exposing Russia’s true intentions, its actions to destroy the Ukrainian people during Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine and bringing this information to the international community’s attention to initiate bringing all perpetrators to justice,” Stefanchuk said.

According to him, the goal of the Russian leadership is to destroy Ukrainian patriots, the Ukrainian language, Ukrainian culture, and everything that shapes the identity of the Ukrainian nation.

As he noted, this requires immediate recognition of the actions committed by the Russian armed forces against Ukraine as genocide of the Ukrainian people.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Europe doesn't have an alternative to Russian energy, and severe economic consequences will follow if the continent tries to replace its supply of oil and gas from the country.

"A reasonable replacement for Europe simply does not exist," Putin said yesterday during a televised statement ahead of a meeting on the current situation in the country's oil and gas sector.

Russian media reports say Putin accused Western banks of failing to pay for Russian gas supplies after he demanded that European Union member states and other countries pay for Russian gas in rubles.

Speaking at the meeting on Russia’s energy sector, Putin on April 14 blamed Western partners for what he called "defaults on export deliveries of Russian energy resources."

"Banks from these extremely unfriendly states are withholding the transfer of payments," Russian leader said.