The Ukrainian leader not only used his speech at the UN to demand that Russian fighters and officials be prosecuted for war crimes, but also to castigate the Security Council as an essentially useless body which, thanks to its design, had failed for decades to maintain peace around the world.
“Where is the security that the Security Council is supposed to guarantee? he asked incredulously.
The right of veto enjoyed by Russia as one of the five permanent members of the 15-member Security Council has allowed the country to continue its campaign of violence and mass death in Ukraine without fear of international intervention, said said Zelensky.
He called either for the Security Council to be immediately reformed to ensure fairer global representation and for Russia’s veto to be lifted, or for the body to be disbanded altogether.
“Are you ready to shut down the UN? ” he said. “Do you think the time for international law is over? If your answer is no, then you must act immediately.
Zelensky offered to host a global conference in Kyiv to determine how to reform the global security system to prevent future violence elsewhere in the world.
“We must do everything in our power to hand over to the next generation an effective UN, capable of responding preemptively to security challenges,” he said.