Volodymyr Zelensky expected at the United Nations

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will take the podium at the UN for the first time on Tuesday. A year ago, he was exceptionally authorized to intervene via a video message. This time, he will be there in person, for the high-level session of the annual United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, and a special meeting of the Security Council on Wednesday, before leaving for Washington, where he will be received at the White House THURSDAY.

“For us, it is very important that our words, all our messages, are heard by our partners”he declared Monday while meeting Ukrainian soldiers injured at the front in a New York hospital. “Ukraine will present a concrete proposal to UN member states on how to strengthen the principle of territorial integrity and improve the UN’s ability to thwart and stop aggression”he clarified on X (formerly Twitter).

Since the Russian invasion, an overwhelming majority of countries have adopted several resolutions at the UN General Assembly supporting Ukraine and its territorial integrity or calling for Russian withdrawal. But after a year and a half of war and cascading impacts, particularly on food security, some countries in the South are pleading for a diplomatic solution.

In this context, the intervention at the podium of the Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is expected. Unlike several Western powers, Brazil has never imposed financial sanctions on Russia nor agreed to supply munitions to Kiev and is trying to position itself, like China and Indonesia, as a mediator.

As is tradition, the Brazilian will be the first head of state to speak. He will be followed in particular by the American President, Joe Biden, and the Turkish leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is trying to resuscitate the agreement on Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea.