Russia has decided not to give the UN and its Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, any role in resolving the war in Ukraine. This was the case before the full-scale invasion and is now, said Ukrainian Permanent Representative to the UN Serhiy Kyslytsia in an interview with LB.ua.
"After the Secretary-General took a very principled and public position since the morning of February 24, the Kremlin stopped communicating with him at all - no one in Moscow wants to talk to him. When he had to talk to Lavrov in March (russian Foreign Minister). - Ed.), he was able to get only Shoigu (Minister of Defense of the russian federation. - Ed.) on the phone", - said Kyslytsia.
Ukrainian diplomat admits that before February 24, the Secretary-General’s position was relatively weak.
"He did not see himself in any peacekeeping or other role in the Russian-Ukrainian war and other international military conflicts. Guterres did not want to interfere in a situation where the interests of permanent members of the Security Council were involved. I can say with all responsibility that he sincerely did not believe that the russian federation would carry out such a massive attack on Ukraine. It was a shock to him," he said.
Kyslytsia stressed that russia carried out the attack after the February 23 meeting of the General Assembly, which concerned the occupied territories of Ukraine, and during the Security Council itself, in parallel with which the Russian president's address on declaring war was broadcast.
"This was a turning point for the Secretary-General, who has since taken a principled stand and began to speak decisively to Putin and literally shout, 'Putin, stop the war!'" he said.
This week the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, urged to organize an “Easter ceasefire,” stop the bloodshed and “open the window for dialogue and peace.” The Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, urged russia to listen to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and react to his proposal.
However, russia refused the “Easter ceasefire”, and the administration of the aggressor country explained the call as “the desire of Kyiv nationalists to get a break” and “spread more fake information about russian soldiers.”