News - Middle East: Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky has demanded "accountability" for Russia at the United Nations Security Council as the Russian military campaign in the former Soviet state continues.

Zelensky said in a virtual address to the 15-member international body on Tuesday that Russia must face "accountability" for "crimes" during the protracted offensive by Russian forces in the occupied cities and regions of Ukraine.

"Geography might be different or various, but cruelty is the same. Crimes are the same and accountability must be inevitable," the Ukrainian leader told the Security Council.

Zelensky demanded full and transparent investigations along with "maximum access for journalists, maximum cooperation with international institutions, involvement of the International Criminal Court — complete and full accountability."

The Ukrainian president also called for the removal of Russia from the UN Security Council, saying, "We need decisions from the Security Council for peace in Ukraine."

Elsewhere in his speech, Zelensky urged the United Nations to act and reform its system, which gives Security Council permanent member Russia a veto, saying everything must be done to ensure the international body worked effectively.

"We are dealing with a state that is turning its veto at the UN Security Council into the right to cause deaths. This undermines the whole architecture of global security. It allows them to go unpunished. So they are destroying everything that they can," the Ukrainian leader said.

Zelensky said the 15-member council should "remove Russia as an aggressor and a source of war so it cannot block decisions about its own aggression, its own war."

"Do you think that the time of international law is gone? If your answer is no, then you need to act immediately. The UN Charter must be restored immediately. The UN system must be reformed immediately so that the veto is not the right to die," he added.

In a televised speech on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an offensive against Ukraine.