Russia using genocide 'lie' as pretext to destroy, Ukraine tells World Court

FILE PHOTO: Ambassador-at-Large of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Anton Korynevych, Director General for International Law of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oksana Zolotaryova and Russian Ambassador to Netherlands, Alexander Vasilievich Shulgin, Russia's Ambassador-at-Large Gennady Kuzmin, Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the U.N. Maria Zabolotskaya attend a hearing as Russia begins presenting its objections against the jurisdiction of the World Court in a genocide case brought by Ukraine which claims Moscow falsely applied genocide law to justify its February 24, 2022 invasion, in The Hague, Netherlands, September 18, 2023. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/file photo

THE HAGUE (Reuters) -Ukraine told the U.N.'s highest court in The Hague on Tuesday that Russia justified waging war against Ukraine by invoking "a terrible lie" that Moscow's invasion was to stop an alleged genocide.

"The international community adopted the Genocide Convention to protect. Russia invokes the Genocide convention to destroy," Ukraine's representative Anton Korynevych told judges.