By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Amidst the lingering invasion of Kyiv by Moscow since February, Ukraine has urged the United Nations Security Council to withdraw Russia’s membership of the body
Ukraine in a statement on Monday said Russia “illegally occupies the seat of the USSR in the UN Security Council” since the fall of the Soviet Union back in 1991.
“Ukraine calls on the member states of the UN… to deprive the Russian Federation of its status as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and to exclude it from the UN as a whole.”
“From a legal and political point of view, there can be only one conclusion: Russia is a usurper of the Soviet Union’s seat in the UN Security Council,” the Ukrainian defence ministry added.
While the UN Security Council has 15 members in total, the veto power lies with the five permanent members.
While most have taken a hard stance against the Russian invasion, China has continued to support Russia and even increased its trade relations with the Kremlin in the recent past.
Meanwhile, Russia said on Monday that it destroyed a Ukrainian drone at the Engels airfield – over 600 kms away from the border. Russian news agencies reported that three people were killed in the operation which was deemed to be the most intrusive attack to date from the Ukrainian side.
Russian President Vladimir Putin criticised the attack and said that the current offensive in Ukraine will help “unite the Russian people” and warned against Russia’s “geopolitical opponents (of) aiming to tear apart Russia, the historical Russia”.
“Divide and conquer, that’s what they have always sought to accomplish and are still seeking to do,” Putin said in a television interview according to AFP.
