Zelensky criticizes UN for allowing ‘terrorist state’ to chair Security Council

President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address that as Russia started to chair the UN Security Council on April 1, “it is hard to imagine something more evident that proves the complete bankruptcy of such institutions.”

“There is no such form of terror that has not yet been committed by Russia,”  Zelensky said.

He added that global institutions, including the UN Security Council, should be reformed so that states committing atrocities couldn't influence international institutions.

“Terrorists must lose, must be held accountable for terror, and not preside anywhere,” he added.

On March 30, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called the Russian UN Security Council presidency “a bad joke.”

“Russia has usurped its seat, it’s waging a colonial war, its leader is a war criminal wanted by the ICC for kidnapping children,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

“The world can’t be a safe place with Russia in the Security Council," he said.

Each of the 15 members of the UN Security Council, including Russia, hold the presidency for a month.

The last time Russia chaired the organization was in February 2022, launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine the same month.