UAE to join Russia's 'anti-fascist conference' as Moscow blows up Holocaust memorial in Ukraine

Russia announced on Tuesday that it intends to host an “anti-fascist conference" as its forces bombarded a Holocaust memorial site in Kyiv.

The surreal announcement came from Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who said the Kremlin aims to host the conference in August this year.

The UAE, Saudi Arabia, China, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, India and Ethiopia - whose rulers have been accused of committing grave human rights violations - are among the countries invited to the event.

Russia struck the Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial on Tuesday, killing five people. The memorial marks the murder of 33,771 Jews by the Nazis in one of the most heinous acts of the Second World War. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky questioned why anyone would attack the memorial and accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to wipe out his country's collective memory.

To the world: what is the point of saying «never again» for 80 years, if the world stays silent when a bomb drops on the same site of Babyn Yar? At least 5 killed. History repeating…

— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 1, 2022

Putin, who has made the ludicrous claim that his war against Ukraine is to root out "neo-Nazism", has also been behind horrific war crimes.

His forces were accused of committing genocide in Chechnya in the 1990s and were found to have used banned weapons such as white phosphorus, cluster munitions, and thermobaric bombs during their ongoing military intervention in Syria.

Russian forces have also targeted hospitals and schools in Ukraine.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) said Monday that it was launching an investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine.