Russia snubs UN court hearing on Ukraine invasion

Russia has snubbed a hearing at the United Nations’ top court into a legal bid by Kyiv to halt Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

A row of seats reserved for Russian lawyers at the International Court of Justice in The Hague was empty on Monday morning as the hearing opened.

The court’s president, American judge Joan Donoghue, said Russia’s ambassador to the Netherlands informed judges that “his government did not intend to participate in the oral proceedings”.

The hearing went ahead without the Russian delegation.