Ukraine Condemns The Secretary General Of The United Nations On BRICS Invitations, Reportedly To Meet President Putin On The Last Day Of The Summit

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. (Twitter/@antinooguterres)

JAKARTA - Ukraine has criticized UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for receiving news of the BRICS summit invitation in Russia and is going to meet President Vladimir Putin.

Criticism came from Ukraine's Foreign Ministry on Monday linking it to Guterres' absence from the "peace Summit" on war in Ukraine

"The UN Secretary-General rejected Ukraine's invitation to the first Global Peace Summit in Switzerland," the ministry said in a post on social media X.

"However, he received an invitation to Kazan from war criminal Putin. This is a wrong choice that does not advance the purpose of peace. This only damages the reputation of the United Nations," the ministry continued.

Russia is known to host the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan which starts today. In addition to being attended by Russia, Brazil, India, China, and South Africa, this summit will be the first for new members, Egypt, Ethiophia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates.

The leaders who attended included Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Meanwhile, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva canceled his trip following medical advice to temporarily avoid long-distance flights after suffering a head injury that caused minor brain hemorrhage.

A spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry earlier this month said Secretary General Guterres had informed Minister Sergei Lavrov at the UN General Assembly last month that he intended to go to Kazan.

However, UN deputy spokesman Farham Haq when asked on Monday whether Guterres would attend, said: "An announcement of his future journey will be announced later."

Yesterday, Russian President Yury Ushakov said President Putin intended to hold a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, quoted from RFE/RL.

Although the Putin-Guterres meeting, which is scheduled to take place on October 24, has no indication that Kyiv or Moscow are ready for broader peace negotiations to end the conflict.

Secretary General Guterres has consistently criticized Russia's actions, declaring Moscow's ongoing military operation in Ukraine to create a "dangerous precedent" for the world.

The UN chief has repeatedly called for "fair peace" that respects international law and Ukraine's "territorial integrity".

The peace summit at a Swiss mountain resort in June, which pitted more than 90 countries, condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine and sought ways to end the conflict, even though Russia was not invited and considered it meaningless.

Secretary General Guterres said at the time he would not attend a meeting hosted by Switzerland, even though the United Nations was represented.

Later, Ukrainian President Voldoymyr Zelensky said he wanted to hold a second summit by the end of this year and wanted Russia to attend, but Moscow said it had no intention of attending.