(Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has rejected a plan for the U.N. Secretary General to visit Kyiv due to Antonio Guterres’s attendance at this week’s BRICS summit in Russia, a Ukrainian official said on Friday.
Kyiv was enraged by Guterres’s appearance at the event in the city of Kazan on Thursday and his handshake with its host, Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose forces invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 2022.
Guterres – who called for a “just peace” in Ukraine at the BRICS event and has repeatedly condemned the invasion – discussed a visit to Ukraine with Zelenskiy when they met in New York in September, Deputy U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq said.
Haq said that since then the U.N. and Ukraine have been trying to work out a “mutually convenient time” for a visit, but that nothing had been decided.
The Ukrainian official, who asked not to be named, said Zelenskiy had now rejected the visit because of the BRICS appearance, without going into further detail.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday that Guterres’ acceptance of the invitation to attend the BRICS summit had damaged the U.N.’s reputation.
Zelenskiy condemned the decision to turn up. “Even though some of its officials may choose the temptations of Kazan over the substance of the U.N. Charter, the world remains structured in such a way that the rights of nations and the norms of international law will always matter,” he said on Thursday.
Russia’s invasion has displaced millions of people, killed thousands and destroyed settlements and energy infrastructure.
The summit of BRICS nations, which started on Tuesday, was aimed at showcasing the clout of non-Western countries. Other leaders attending included Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
(Reporting by Pavel Politiuk, Michelle Nichols; Writing by Yuliia Dysa; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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