THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Russia has snubbed a hearing at the United Nations’ top court into a legal bid by Kyiv to halt Moscow’s devastating invasion of Ukraine.

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

The court’s president, American judge Joan E. 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.