A top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the United Nations Secretary-General is ‘not really’ authorized to speak for Kyiv when he meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week.
Speaking to NBC News’ Meet The Press on Sunday, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Ihor Zhovkva signaled his government was wary of Secretary-General António Guterres’ plan to travel to Moscow more than two months into Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
He went a step further and accused the international body of ‘lagging behind’ in terms of its support for Ukraine, despite more than 10 million people there being forced to flee their homes by Russia’s military.
‘This is not good idea, to travel to Moscow. We do not understand his intention to travel to Moscow and to talk to President Putin,’ Zhovkva said.
The official said that ‘any peace talks are good’ if they yield results, but quickly followed up by casting doubt that Guterres will get far with the Russian autocrat.
‘I really doubt if those peace talks organized by the Secretary-General of the UN would end up with any result,’ he said.
Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Ihor Zhovkva was skeptical that the UN chief’s talks with Vladimir Putin would yield results
‘The UN should do more, not only in terms of political things … but in terms of humanitarian needs. The UN is lagging behind in Ukraine in terms of humanitarian support to my country.’
Zhovka it would be good if the UN Secretary-General would concentrate on these things’ in addition to negotiating with Putin.
Ukraine’s prime minister similarly said he’s ‘not sure’ the Moscow talks would produce results, during his own Sunday US news interview.
‘So many leaders of countries, of civilized world, international organizations try to have these negotiations,’ Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told CBS News’ Face The Nation’
Secretary-General António Guterres plans to meet with Putin on April 26 and Zelensky on April 28
Shmyhal said the Kremlin would rather commit genocide in Ukraine and destabilize global supply chains than negotiate peace talks for the invasion it started.
‘The Russian Federation, Putin, are not interested in these negotiations. They’re interested in other things,’ the elected official said.
‘They are interested in genocide of Ukrainians, in creation of migration crisis in Europe, in the world. They’re interested in creation of food crisis, energy crisis.’
The United Nations announced last week that Guterres would travel to Moscow on April 26 for a ‘working lunch’ with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and would be received by Putin himself.
‘He hopes to talk about what can be done to bring peace to Ukraine urgently, a UN spokesperson said.
Guterres will be in Ukraine just two days later on April 28 to meet face-to-face with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Zelensky.
Meanwhile, two of US President Joe Biden’s top Cabinet officials are expected to be in Kyiv on Sunday to speak with Zelensky.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s visit is the highest-profile such trip yet by American officials since Putin first declared his invasion on February 24.
An aerial view shows damaged buildings, amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, in Mariupol, Ukraine in this handout picture taken with a drone released April 24
Local civilians gather to get humanitarian aid distributed by Donetsk People Republic Emergency Situations Ministry in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in Mariupol, Ukraine, Saturday, April 23
Zelensky announced they would be visiting during a press conference on Saturday, and that they would discuss ‘the list of weapons that we need and the pace of its supply.’
He also said, ‘We will be expecting, when the security will allow, the President of the United States to come and to talk to us.’
Shmyhal said on Sunday that their visit was an ‘important political symbol and ‘a symbol of uniting for the countries and politicians and nations.’
‘When our partners go to Ukraine to see by their own eyes what’s happened, which atrocities and war crimes [the] Russian Army and Russian Federation made in Ukraine during this 58 days of this bloody war… So it’s important signal and issue for our nation when our partners are represented in Ukraine,’ he said.
No details of the visit have yet been released from the US government.