On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of the absurdity of Russia’s assumption of a rotating presidency of the UN Security Council, adding that it was indicative of the “complete bankruptcy” of the organization.“Unfortunately, we also have news which is obviously absurd and destructive. Today a terrorist country started chairing the UN Security Council. Yesterday the Russian army killed another Ukrainian child, a boy five months,” Zelensky said in an evening video message. “And at the same time, Russia chairs the UN Security Council,†he added.The Kremlin said on Friday it planned to “use all of its rights” in the presidency role.The United States on Thursday urged Russia to “behave professionally” in the role, saying there was no way to block Moscow’s work in .Zelenskyy said it was time for a general overhaul of global institutions, including the Security Council. “Reform that is clearly overdue – so that a terrorist state and any other state that wants to be a terrorist cannot destroy the world,” he said.
“It’s not just a shame. This is another symbolic blow to the rules-based system of international relations,†wrote Andrii Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential cabinet, in English on Twitter.
On Saturday April 1, the Russian Federation began its month-long presidency of the UN Security Council. Some experts believe that an aggressor country that has illegally attacked its neighbor and killed civilians there for more than a year should not lead such an influential body of the main international organization.
Russia last chaired the Security Council in February last year – and that coincided with the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
