The Security Council of the ONU agreed today its first official statement on Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion, a text in which the fifteen member countries supported the mediation efforts of the head of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres.
The brief document, as part of an initiative of Mexico y Norwaywas approved unanimously (that is, with the support of Russia) in a quick meeting convened for this purpose.
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In it, the fifteen countries of the Security Council express their “deep concern” about the situation in Ukraine and remember that all the countries of the ONU they have “the obligation to settle their international disputes by peaceful means.”
In addition, they give their “strong support” to the efforts of Guterres to achieve a peaceful solution.
The Portuguese diplomat himself, in a statement, celebrated that “today for the first time the Security Council has spoken with one voice for peace in Ukraine» and thanked the support given to him, assuring that he will spare no effort to «save lives, reduce suffering and find the path to peace».
“In the right direction”
More than because of its content, the statement is relevant because it is the first time since the war began that the Advice reaches agreement on a text on Ukraine.
“We are pleased to have this first step. I think it is encouraging to see that diplomacy is finding its place in the Advice», the Mexican ambassador told reporters, Juan Ramon de la Fuentewho considered that this agreement is “in the right direction”.
Russia’s veto power has so far stopped any action by Russia’s highest decision-making body. United Nationswhere Moscow blocked in the first days of the conflict a critical resolution with his intervention that had promoted USA.
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Since then, the Security Council it has held numerous discussions on the conflict, but has so far failed to reach any kind of compromise.
Yes, it has been formally expressed general Assemblywhere the 193 Member States are represented and where there are no vetoes, with a resolution approved by a large majority that condemned the Russian invasion.
Sometimes silent diplomacy is much more effective
The declaration agreed upon today comes after a session held this Thursday in which Guterres informed the Member States of his recent visit to Moscow y Kievwhere he met with the Russian presidents, Vladimir Putinand Ukrainian, Volodymyr Zelensky.
So far, the only visible result of that tour has been the evacuation of almost half a thousand civilians from the Mariupol area, including at least a hundred who were in the steel mill in Azovstalin operations carried out by the ONU and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) after agreements with the parties to the conflict.
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Guterres -which from the beginning has clearly denounced the Russian invasion, which did not please Moscow– has so far been unable to mediate discussions to end the conflict, a role that has mainly been assumed by Turkey.
Today, the Norwegian ambassador to the ONU, Mona Juulhighlighted the support expressed for Guterres for him Advice and underlined the importance of the head of the organization being able to work without too much public attention to try to achieve results.
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