Volodymyr Zelensky chose to challenge Russia before the United Nations Security Council during an exceptional session this Wednesday, September 20. Ukraine’s president called the Russian invasion “criminal aggression.” He also regretted the blocking of the United Nations due to the veto granted to Russia for its status as a permanent member. “Most countries in the world recognize the truth about this war,” said Mr. Zelensky, who faced Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzia. “This is a criminal and unjustified aggression by Russia against our nation, which aims to seize the territory and resources of Ukraine,” he said.
Mr. Zelensky, dressed in his usual khaki green fatigues, called on the UN to strip Russia of its veto power in the Security Council, linked to its seat as a permanent member inherited from the victorious former USSR in the Second War. worldwide. “The right of veto in the hands of the aggressor blocks the UN,” he said, deeming it “impossible to stop this war because all efforts face the veto of the aggressor or those who support him “.
This is the first time since the Russian invasion of his country began on February 24, 2022, that President Zelensky spoke in person before the UN Security Council. Wednesday’s meeting, carefully choreographed, took place at the highest level with the successive interventions of numerous leaders from around the world, including the Japanese Fumio Kishida, the Canadian Justin Trudeau and the German Olaf Scholz.
In a sign of a tense atmosphere, the Russian ambassador complained that the Ukrainian president was allowed to speak before the other members of the Council, denouncing a body “transformed into a one-man show” and a “spectacle”. To which Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, who holds the presidency of the Council, replied: “Stop the war and President Zelensky will not speak again. »
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern over a conflict that violates the UN charter and “aggravates geopolitical crises and divisions” around the world, while the top diplomat American, Antony Blinken, returning from a recent trip to Ukraine, accused Russia of committing “war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine almost on a daily basis.”
On the Russian side, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who entered the Council chamber as Mr. Blinken spoke, defended “the legitimate tool” that is the Russian veto. “The use of the veto is an absolutely legitimate tool stipulated in the United Nations Charter with the objective of preventing decisions leading to the breakup” of the UN, defended the Russian minister, who did not attend to President Zelensky’s speech.
As the war in Ukraine bogs down, the Ukrainian president continued his diplomatic offensive in New York on Wednesday and notably met with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The latter spoke on his X account (formerly Twitter) of “a good conversation on ways to build peace and always maintain open dialogue between [their] countries.”
The day before, at the UN platform, Lula had pleaded the fact that “no solution will be lasting if it is not based on dialogue”. Brazil has refused to supply arms to kyiv or impose sanctions on Vladimir Putin’s Russia. After New York, Mr. Zelensky must go to Washington on Thursday to be received by American President Joe Biden, who leads the coalition in support of kyiv.
Speaking at the UN on Tuesday, the latter castigated Russia which “believes that the world will tire of it and let it brutalize Ukraine without consequence”. Volodymyr Zelensky himself tried on Tuesday at the UN to rally sometimes skeptical countries from the South to his cause. His comments on certain countries which “feign solidarity” with Ukraine provoked the anger of Poland, which summoned the Ukrainian ambassador.
After a year and a half of war with cascading impacts on the world, particularly on food security, certain countries of the South are pleading more and more openly for a diplomatic solution. “We all want the killing to stop, today rather than tomorrow,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. But peace “means respect for the territorial integrity and political independence of Ukraine.”
