Photo: EPA-EFE/STEPHANI SPINDEL
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has declined a proposed visit to Ukraine by UN Secretary-General António Guterres due to his attendance this week at a summit hosted in Russia, French news agency AFP said on Friday, citing a senior source in the Ukrainian presidency.
Guterres attended the BRICS summit in the city of Kazan in the Russian republic of Tatarstan, where he called for a “just peace” in Ukraine and an end to the war in a speech he gave in the presence of Vladimir Putin.
The UN chief’s presence at the group’s annual summit, which was attended by over 20 global leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, appears to have deeply angered Kyiv.
“The UN Secretary General declined Ukraine’s invitation to the first Global Peace Summit in Switzerland. He did, however, accept the invitation to Kazan from war criminal Putin. … It only damages the UN’s reputation,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry tweeted ahead of the summit on Monday.
According to AFP’s source, Guterres planned to come to Ukraine after visiting Russia, but Zelensky “did not confirm” his visit. “So Guterres won’t be here, specifically because of the humiliation of sanity and international law in Kazan,” the source continued.
In a statement published after the meeting between Guterres and Putin on Thursday, the UN said Guterres had “reiterated his position that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was in violation of the United Nations Charter and international law”.
The final declaration issued on Wednesday by BRICS, an intergovernmental organisation which has grown from its five founding members to nine now, contained 134 points, only one of which mentioned the Ukraine war.
“We emphasise that all states should act consistently with the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter in their entirety and … note with appreciation relevant proposals of mediation … aimed at a peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy,” the declaration read.
