Russia has placed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list for unspecified criminal charges, state media reported Saturday — which Ukraine slammed as a "desperation" bid for "attention."
Zelenksyy didn't directly address his wanted listing in a message posted Saturday on X, but said Putin was "insane, and his state produces evidence of this every day."
In a statement posted online, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said putting Zelenskyy on the list was "evidence of the desperation of the Russian state machine and propaganda, which can think of no other way to attract attention," Reuters reported.
The Foreign Ministry also noted that "unlike the worthless Russian announcements, an International Criminal Court warrant for the arrest of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on suspicion of war crimes is quite real, and subject to implementation in 123 countries."
The Tass news agency said Zelenksyy was listed in a Russian Interior Ministry database, which didn't detail the purported crimes against him, Russia's Tass news agency reported
Zelenksyy's predecessor, Petro Poroshenko, and Gen. Oleksandr Pavlyuk, the commander of Ukraine's ground forces, are also on the list, the Associated Press said.
Mediazona, an independent Russian news outlet, reported that both Zelenskyy and Poroshenko have been listed since at least late February.
Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, and has been battling Ukraine ever since. On Thursday Russia was accused by the U.S. of using a banned World War I chemical weapon, chloropicrin, which causes lung damage.
Zelenskyy posted a three-minute video clip Sunday in which he detailed a number of aerial attacks he said Russia launched against Ukraine's border regions and front lines one day before Sunday's celebration of Orthodox Easter.
"The Russian evil does not diminish its desire to bring ruins even on the eve of Easter," he said.
Ukraine shot down 13 Iranian-made Shahed attack drones and a Russian Su-25 fighter-bomber, Zelenskyy said.
