On Saturday (April 23, 2022), the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, criticized the decision “without any logic” by the Secretary General of the United Nations (UNO), Antonio Guterres, to travel to Moscow next week before going to Kyiv .
“It’s just wrong to go to Russia first and then to Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said at a press conference, referring to Guterres’ schedule, which includes traveling to Moscow on April 26 and Kyiv on April 28. “It’s a decision without justice or logic,” he added.
“The war is in Ukraine, there are no corpses on the streets of Moscow. It would be logical to go to Ukraine first and see the people, see the consequences of the occupation,” added the Ukrainian leader before visiting Russia.
The UN announced Guterres will visit Turkey’s capital Ankara on April 25, where he will meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before traveling to Moscow and Kyiv. In Ukraine, Guterres is to meet with teams from local UN agencies “to discuss increased humanitarian aid for the Ukrainians”.
Since the UN Secretary-General claimed that Russia is violating the UN Charter by sending troops to Ukraine, the Russian President has refused any contact with him. Guterres hasn’t had much contact with the Ukrainian leader either. It wasn’t until February 26, two days after the start of the Russian offensive, that they spoke on the phone.
On April 19, Guterres condemned the new Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine and called on both sides to end fighting to ensure a four-day “humanitarian truce” to coincide with the Orthodox Easter celebrations on April 24.
loves (afp, al jazeera)