Zelenskyy calls for Russia to lose UN Security Council power, says Ukraine attack 'bears signs of genocide'

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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday called for Russia to lose its voting power as a member of the U.N. Security Council, alleging its attack on his country, which started last week, amounted to "criminal actions" that bore "signs of genocide," according to a report.

"This is terror," Zelenskyy said in a video message, referring to the military invasion ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, which spread across Ukraine in recent days to include targets in Kyiv, the capital, and Kharkiv, the nation's second-largest city, among other locations.

"They are going to bomb our Ukrainian cities even more, they are going to kill our children even more subtly," he added, according to Reuters. "This is the evil that has come to our land and must be destroyed."

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"Russia's criminal actions against Ukraine bear signs of genocide," he added, according to the report.

Belarus site rejected

Also on Sunday, Zelenskyy said he was ready for talks with Russia – but rejected its offer of holding the negotiations in Belarus, claiming the country was a staging area for Russia's invasion last week.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. (Office of the President of Ukraine)

"Warsaw, Bratislava, Budapest, Istanbul, Baku. We proposed all of them," Zelenskyy said, referring to alternative locations for the proposed talks, Agence France-Press reported.

"And any other city in a country from whose territory missiles do not fly would suit us," he added.

On Sunday, the Kremlin announced it had sent a negotiation team to Belarus for talks with Ukrainian officials.

"The Russian delegation is ready for talks, and we are now waiting for the Ukrainians," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who noted the delegation includes military personnel and diplomats, according to Reuters. 

But Ukrainian officials claimed the potential peace talks were not "real" and were instead "propaganda," the report said.

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Macron makes a point

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron has asked Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko to expel Russian forces "from Belarusian soil as quickly as possible, as these troops are waging a unilateral and unjust war."

Emmanuel Macron, France's president, speaks during a news conference in Rome, Nov. 26, 2021.  (Getty Images)

During a phone call on Saturday, Macron "made a point of denouncing the seriousness of a decision which would authorize Russia to deploy nuclear weapons on Belarusian soil," said a readout from the call the was provided to Fox News Digital.

Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, extending it Sunday to Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, after Russian forces waited outside the city for several days. Russian forces have also attacked the capital, Kyiv, among other locations.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.