UN Security Council deliberately avoids depriving Russia of full membership

According to the diplomat, due to Russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine, the UN Security Council needs to be reformed to deprive the aggressor of the right to block important decisions by veto. However, he noted, this body failed to change the situation or "make any substantive decision."

"The Security Council member states, especially the permanent members, continue to hold the position that the Russian Federation is a full and legitimate member of the Security Council. They allow the Russian Federation to use the veto. They are not ready not only to take practical steps to deprive Russia of all its powers but are not even ready to start a political discussion about it," Kyslytsia said.

The diplomat drew attention to the fact that even in the context of the conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Security Council managed to decide to open new humanitarian crossings, and "our conflict remains almost the only one where there are no solutions."

"The UN is in a deep crisis not only because the Security Council is helpless when it comes to measures to stop the war in Ukraine and curb the aggressor. The UN is in a deep crisis also because one of its main functions - peacekeeping - no longer works in the way it did ten years ago," noted the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN.

Kyslytsya also added that new forms and approaches to how the UN will maintain peace in the future should be sought. This should be discussed at the Future Summit in September 2024. In his opinion, the meeting should be crucial for determining how the international community will respond to the main challenges.

Massive shelling of Ukraine and the emergency meeting of the UN Security Council

On Friday, December 29, the Russian invaders launched the largest attack on Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale war. They fired 158 enemy targets at the country, and the air defense forces shot down 114 objects.

Ukraine initiated an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the large-scale shelling of the country.

During the meeting, the United States accused Russia of deliberately distracting the UN Security Council with the topic of the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine a decade ago while Moscow was preparing the largest-scale air strike on Ukrainian cities.

At an emergency meeting, Sergey Kyslytsya said that as long as Russia is able to kill the credibility and integrity of the Security Council, it will feel free to kill innocent people in Ukraine and beyond.