Ukraine's ambassador to U.S. says Russia used a vacuum bomb
Ukraine's ambassador to the United States appealed to members of the U.S. Congress for more assistance on Monday (February 28) as her country resists a "brutal war" from Russia, saying Russia had used a vacuum bomb on Monday in its invasion of Ukraine.
"They used the vacuum bomb today, which is actually prohibited by the Geneva convention," Ambassador Oksana Markarova said after a meeting with lawmakers. "The devastation that Russia is trying to inflict on Ukraine is large."
She said Ukraine was working actively with U.S. President Joe Biden's administration and Congress to obtain more weapons and tougher sanctions.
"They should pay, they should pay a heavy price," she told reporters after leaving the meeting.
A vacuum bomb uses oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion, typically producing a blast wave of a significantly longer duration than that of a conventional explosive.
Russia has deliberately targeted some of Ukraine's civilian infrastructure and hospitals, she said, and Ukrainian officials are gathering war crimes evidence to present to the International Criminal Court.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy remains in Kyiv and he held a "very productive" phone call with President Joe Biden on Friday, the ambassador told reporters.
After weeks of warnings from Western leaders, Russian President Vladimir Putin unleashed a three-pronged invasion of Ukraine from the north, east and south on Thursday (February 24), in the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two.
Russia has captured the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant, resulting in what Ukraine's nuclear agency said was higher but not critical radiation levels.
Reuters
