Ukrainian President Zelensky has rejected a plan for the UN secretary general to visit Kyiv due to Antonio Guterres’s attendance at this week’s BRICS summit in Russia, a Ukrainian official said on Friday. Kyiv was enraged by Guterres’s appearance at the event in the city of Kazan on Thursday and his handshake with its host, Russian Prez Vladimir Putin. Guterres – who called for a “just peace” in Ukraine at the BRICS event and has repeatedly condemned the invasion – discussed a visit to Ukraine with Zelensky when they met in New York in September, deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said. Haq said that since then the UN and Ukraine have been trying to work out a “mutually convenient time” for a visit, but that nothing had been decided. The Ukrainian official, who asked not to be named, said Zelensky had now rejected the visit because of the BRICS appearance, without going into further detail. Ukraine’s foreign ministry said on Monday that Guterres’ acceptance to attend the BRICS summit had damaged the UN’s reputation.
