After being present in Kazan for the BRICS summit, Guterres wanted to travel to kyiv. According to a senior official, Zelensky refused to meet with the UN secretary general.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky refused to receive UN Secretary General António Guterres in kyiv due to the Portuguese’s visit to the Russian city of Kazan as part of the BRICS summit, France-Presse reported.
“After Kazan, he (Guterres) wanted to come to Ukraine, but the president did not confirm his visit” at what Zelensky considered a humiliation inflicted on international law in Kazan, a senior Ukrainian presidential official told AFP, on condition of anonymity.
On Thursday, António Guterres defended an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza and called for peace in Lebanon and Ukraine, speaking at the meeting of the BRICS, a bloc of the main emerging economies, with the countries of the Global South.
“We need peace everywhere. We need peace in Gaza with an immediate ceasefire and an immediate and unconditional release of all hostages,” said Guterres, recently declared ‘persona non grata’ by the Israeli Government.
On Russian soil, Guterres also called for peace in Ukraine: “A just peace, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, international law and the resolutions of the General Assembly.”
Guterres attended the BRICS meeting to call for peace in Gaza, Lebanon and Ukraine
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24, 2022, plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since the Second World War (1939-1945).
The BRICS group, founded informally in 2006 and holding its first summit in 2009, includes countries representing about a third of the world economy and more than 40% of the world’s population.
Currently part of the bloc are Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.
Source: Observadora
