Ukraine official says Zelenskyy hopes to visit UN next month
UNITED NATIONS — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to visit the United Nations to address a high-level meeting of the 193-member General Assembly on the eve of the first anniversary of Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of his country if the security situation permits, a senior Foreign Ministry official said.
First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova cautioned in an interview Friday with The Associated Press that many factors need to be in place for him to come, citing the military situation on the ground and a warning from Ukraine’s intelligence service that Russia is planning “a very serious offensive in February.”
“Our president would want to come, he has (the) intention to come,” she said, “but it’s still a question if (circumstances) will allow him to come.”
A spokesman for Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said no decision has been made so far on whether such a visit will indeed take place. Zelenskyy “makes visits abroad depending on the situation in Ukraine and other factors,” Oleg Nikolenko said, promising to “keep the public properly informed” about the president’s plans for foreign trips.
If Zelenskyy does come to the U.N., it would be only his second trip outside Ukraine since the invasion. He made a surprise visit to Washington on Dec. 21 to meet his most important backers in the war against Russia — President Joe Biden and members of Congress whom he thanked for their support and told that “against all odds” Ukraine still stands.
Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said the General Assembly has already scheduled a high-level debate on the war on Feb. 23, which will be followed by a ministerial meeting of the Security Council on Feb. 24.
Dzhaparova said Ukraine would like to see the assembly adopt one of the two resolutions Zelenskyy wants to see approved on the eve of the anniversary of the invasion.
She said one measure would support the president’s 10-point peace formula that includes the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and the withdrawal of Russian forces and the other would establish a tribunal to prosecute crimes of aggression, which would hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked invasion.