Can the UN bring peace to Ukraine?

UN Secretary-General António Guterres met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba in Kiev.

The head of state of Ukraine was able to receive the Secretary General only in the afternoon – before that he had a meeting with the President of Bulgaria. Guterres studied the settlements of Borodyanka, Irpen and Bucha in the Kyiv region at that time.

Assessing their situation, Guterres expressed his conclusion to reporters: “the civilian population always pays the highest price.”

“Innocent civilians lived in these buildings. They paid the highest price for a war to which they contributed nothing,” the UN Secretary-General said.

According to the reports of the parties, the main topic of the negotiations was the evacuation of people from the Mariupol plant “Azovstal”, where the Ukrainian army was blocked.

Therefore, Guterres himself said that “we are doing everything possible to evacuate people from Azovstal”, and Zelensky said that after negotiations with the UN Secretary-General for the first time, he believes that a “successful outcome” is possible in the release of Azovstal.

At the same time, on the eve of the visit, Zelensky criticized the Secretary General for the “irrationality” of the route of his tour, which turned out to be the final destination of Ukraine. “It would make more sense to visit Ukraine first, see it, and with that go to Russia and talk to him,” Zelensky said.

Mykhailo Podolyak, chief adviser to the office of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, made a similar claim the day Guterres arrived in Ukraine, adding that it was “strange” to talk about humanitarian corridors as Guterres did. After more than sixty days of hostilities, he set out on his journey. “The UN is a weak organization,” he said.

Who else did Guterres meet?

The UN Secretary General’s trip to Eastern Europe started with his visit to Turkey on April 25, where he met with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. According to the official statement from the organization, the main topics of the meeting were humanitarian corridors, helping victims and the impact of conflict on energy, food and financial problems. In addition, Guterres expressed his support for Turkey’s ongoing diplomatic efforts in connection with the conflict in Ukraine.

Moscow became Guterres’ second destination.

His meeting with Vladimir Putin attracted much more media attention than his previous and subsequent meetings with other political figures – the Kremlin did not hide the content of the speech and published the full text.

Guterres and Putin discussed the causes and consequences of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine for about an hour, but the main outcome of their speech was the decision to involve representatives of the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the operation. the evacuation of not only civilians from Mariupol, but also armed persons from the territory of the Azovstal plant.

After meeting with Putin, the secretary general went to Ukraine, but took a detour to Rzeszow, Poland, where he met with Polish President Andrzej Duda. According to the UN report, Guterres briefed the Polish politician about his meetings in Moscow and Ankara, and also thanked Warsaw for helping Ukrainian refugees.

Former UN Deputy Secretary General Sergei Ordzhonikidze, in his meeting with socialbites.ca, noted that the UN Secretary-General’s emphasis on the problems of refugees during his trip was not accidental.

“In the past, Mr. Guterres was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. This aspect seems very obsessed with him. And while this aspect is certainly important in itself, the problem of refugees is only a result of armed conflict.

Perhaps it would be possible to speculate on regulation in a broader sense. No one had given him that authority though. Therefore, I was very surprised by his visits – what can be discussed with him? ”said the former diplomat.

Can the UN influence the conflict?

Sergei Ordzhonikidze points out that the issue of the powers of the Secretary-General is a cornerstone in the question of the expediency of Guterres’ current trips.

According to him, the rights of the Secretary-General are extremely limited and perhaps the most effective of them is to bring information to the UN Security Council on any matter that, in his view, might threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.

In this context, Ordzhonikidze believes that the whole purpose of Guterres’ trip was to assess the situation. However, the UN Secretary-General is unlikely to have any influence on the course of the conflict.

“Guterres certainly does not have any resources to influence the development of the conflict in any way. The role of the secretary-general should never be overstated.

According to the UN Charter, he is the head of the secretariat and nothing more. The UN is actually an organization made up of member states that make all the decisions. Therefore, the Secretary-General can only speak on behalf of the UN when he is given such authority. “This could be done by the Security Council or the General Assembly, but it was not done before Guterres’ trips to Moscow and Kyiv,” he said.

First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Relations Alexei Chepa noted that the main meaning of dialogue with him is to convey Russia’s stance for Moscow to the UN Secretary General.

“The impact of the meeting with the Secretary General of the organization may be minimal, but still such actions are necessary: ​​we explain in detail to the whole world what is happening.

Because what our media is trying to convey is zealously trying to uproot it in the West. We talk about humanitarian corridors all the time, but neo-Nazis do not allow them to be organized, they continue to cover themselves with human shields and put people’s lives at risk. We declare it, including the UN. I’m sure this was also reported and discussed in the meeting with Guterres. What will be the impact here – will it affect Zelensky? I don’t know, I doubt it,” the deputy told socialbites.ca.

Alexey Chepa expressed his suspicions by the fact that “the Americans did not listen to the opinion of the UN, and also put the main pressure on Kiev and tried to dictate its conditions.” However, he categorically rejected the assumption of a decrease in the effectiveness of the United Nations.

“It would be absolutely wrong to doubt the relevance of UN activities.

In the end, in any case, I think everything will fall into place one day. The UN includes many states. And not all states are ready to blindly follow US leadership. Therefore, it is important to listen to the opinions of people from other countries. We must support these countries and engage with them. And the UN is a very important platform for that,” he said.