UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Photo: Eric Bridiers.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has refused to allow UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to visit Kyiv after his unannounced participation in the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan. This was reported by AFP, citing sources in the Office of the President of Ukraine, and confirmed by RBC-Ukraine.
“After Kazan, [Guterres] wanted to come to Ukraine, but the president did not confirm his visit. The UN Secretary-General will not be in Ukraine, as his trip to Russia is perceived as a humiliation of common sense and international law,” a senior source in the Presidential Office commented on the situation.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry sharply criticised Guterres’ trip to Russia, noting that the visit damaged the UN’s reputation. Earlier, in June, Guterres ignored the Global Peace Summit organised by Ukraine in Switzerland, to which Russia was not invited.
Guterres’s visit to Russia came as a surprise to the Ukrainian side, which perceives it as a gesture that undermines the international community’s efforts to achieve a just peace in the face of Russian aggression.
