Ukraine to dominate as world leaders gather at United Nations

Russia's invasion of Ukraine and a global food crisis aggravated by the war will be the focus of world leaders when they convene at the United Nations in New York this week, a gathering that is unlikely to yield any progress toward ending the conflict.

"It would be naive to think that we are close to the possibility of a peace deal," said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres ahead of the high-level meeting of the 193-member UN General Assembly, which starts on Tuesday. "The chances of a peace deal are minimal, at the present moment."

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Geopolitical divides, hardened by the seven-month-old war, are likely to be on full display as the United States and Western allies compete with Russia for diplomatic influence.

US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said, "other countries have expressed the concern that ... as we focus on Ukraine, we are not paying attention to what is happening in other crises around the world."

US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks during a press conference. File photo

"That is not the case," she told reporters, adding that while Ukraine will feature next week "it will not be the only thing that we're dealing with."

Guterres said the geopolitical rifts were "the widest they have been since at least the Cold War." He warned they "are paralysing the global response to the dramatic challenges we face," citing war, climate, poverty, hunger, and inequality.

Russia and Ukraine are major grain and fertilizer exporters and the United Nations has blamed the war for worsening the food crisis that was already fueled by climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The United States is due to co-host a food security summit with the European Union and the African Union on the sidelines of the UN gathering, along with a COVID-19 global action plan ministerial meeting and a replenishment conference for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

"Underlying a lot of these meetings will be a huge amount of tension between Western countries and representatives of the global south in particular," said Richard Gowan, UN director at the International Crisis Group.

"There's still a lot of ill feeling over issues such as the COVID vaccine rollout, climate financing ... and now food prices. All these issues are driving major wedges amongst UN member states," Gowan said.

Reuters