Ukraine's leader wants to visit UN on invasion anniversary

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky 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 on Friday.

First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova cautioned in an interview with The Associated Press that many factors need to be in place for him to come, citing first and foremost the military situation on the ground and a warning from Ukraine’s intelligence service that Russia is planning "a very serious offensive in February.”

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"Our president would want to come, he has a will or intention to come,” she said, "but it’s still a question if there will be a security situation that will allow him to come.”

If Zelensky does come to the UN, 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.

Emine Dzhaparova speaks alongside Ukraine's UN ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya on Thursday. AP

Ukraine’s UN 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 that Zelenskyy wants to see approved on the eve of the anniversary of the invasion.

She said Ukraine is consulting with its partners on the two measures, one that 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 that would establish a tribunal to prosecute crimes of aggression, which would enable Russia to be held accountable for its unprovoked invasion.

"We have to act step by step,” Dzhaparova said. "It’s still a question what will be the first. … I believe that this is something that we will know very soon, in the nearest week or two.”

Associated Press