Recent missile strikes on Kyiv say a lot about Russia’s attitude to global institutions – Zelensky

The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a video address, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“Russian missile strikes at Ukraine – Kyiv, Fastiv, Odesa, and other cities – once again prove that we cannot let our guard down. We cannot think that the war is over. We still have to fight. We still have to drive the occupiers out,” Zelensky told.

On Thursday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres was paying a visit to Ukraine to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Immediately after the end of talks, Russian missiles hit the city of Kyiv.

“Five missiles. And this says a lot about Russia’s true attitude to global institutions. About the efforts of the Russian leadership to humiliate the UN and everything that the Organization represents. Therefore, it requires a strong response,” the President of Ukraine stressed.

According to Zelensky, it is important that UN Secretary-General António Guterres visited Borodianka, Kyiv Region, and saw with his own eyes what the Russian invaders had done there.

“Hundreds of Ukrainian cities and hundreds of communities have experienced the same thing as Borodianka and Bucha. The Russian army in Ukraine consciously and without any doubt trampled down everything, on which the global order was based after World War II. The UN Charter, international conventions, declarations, the rights of people and states... Everything that should guarantee freedom and security in the world is simply destroyed by Russia’s aggressive actions,” Zelensky noted.

Hence, the key issue in the talks between Zelensky and the UN Secretary-General was how to stop Russian aggression.

“And this is not just a question of Ukraine, our fate. This is a question of the fate of the United Nations, the fate of international law, the fate of many nations – and not just Russia’s neighbors who may become the next victims of Moscow’s aggressive ambitions,” Zelensky added.

During the talks, special attention was also paid to saving Ukrainian people from Mariupol.

“I believe that with the help of the UN it is possible to organize an evacuation mission. Ukraine is ready for these steps. But it is also necessary for the Russian side to consider this issue without cynicism and actually do what it says,” the President of Ukraine said.

In his words, Moscow claimed they had allegedly ceased fire in Mariupol.

“But the bombing of the defenders of the city continues. This is a war crime committed by the Russian military literally in front of the whole world. Russia’s shelling of Mariupol did not stop even when the UN Secretary-General was holding negotiations in Moscow,” Zelensky stressed.

A reminder that, in the course of negotiations, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and UN Secretary-General António Guterres were discussing human rights and freedoms in Ukraine and the unblocking of the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.

Photo: Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine

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