A senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres was “not really” authorized to speak on behalf of Ukraine in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The big picture: The comment comes as Guterres prepares to meet with Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday, before meeting with Zelenskyy and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Thursday.
- “We urgently need steps to save lives, end human suffering and bring peace to Ukraine,” Guterres wrote in a tweet Announcement of meetings on Friday.
Driving the news: “It’s not a good idea to go to Moscow. We didn’t understand his intention to go to Moscow and talk to President Putin,” Zelenskyi’s top diplomatic adviser, Igor Zhovkva, told NBC’s Meet the Press.
- “All peace talks are good when they end with a result,” Zhovkva said. “I really doubt that these peace talks, organized by the UN Secretary-General, will produce any result.”
- Zhovkva added that he believes the UN “is lagging behind in Ukraine in terms of humanitarian aid to my country
- “The United Nations is lagging behind in Ukraine in terms of humanitarian assistance to my country,” he said. “It would therefore be good if the UN Secretary-General would also focus on these things.”