KYIV, Sept 17 - President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will take center stage at the United Nations this week with Russia’s war on Ukraine in its 19th months and no end in sight, The Associated Press reported.

Zelenskyy will address the assembly Tuesday and will attend a Security Council meeting Wednesday on Ukraine focusing on the principles of the U.N. Charter, which require every country to respect others’ sovereignty and territorial integrity.

U.S. President Joe Biden, who speaks Tuesday, will also be closely watched for U.S. views on Ukraine, China and Russia.

The meeting could create the unique spectacle of placing Zelenskyy and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the same room.

Underlying the entire week is the prospect that the very reason for the United Nations’ existence — to bring countries together to foster peace and security — is becoming more difficult because of divisions between the West, Russia and China, and the rise of regional and like-minded groups that are creating a multipolar world.


U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who will deliver his state-of-the-world address at Tuesday’s opening of what is called the General Debate, says he will tell world leaders that now is not a time for “posturing or positioning,” or for “indifference or indecision.”

“This is a time to come together for real, practical solutions,” the U.N. chief said. “It is time for compromise for a better tomorrow.”

Guterres, who says the Ukraine war has aggravated divisions, said the current shift to a fragmented “multipolar world” isn’t going to solve the planet’s myriad issues.

At the same time, he argues that the multilateral institutions established after World War II — the United Nations and its powerful Security Council, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund — are outdated and need reform “to make them more fair and more equitable, and more representative of the world today.”

Guterres was asked how to keep the focus broader than only Ukraine and emphasize the U.N. goals. “We don’t want to have only one spotlight,” he replied. “We have the possibility, like in several theaters, to have different spotlights.” (ap/ez)