USNC has no right to stand aside: Ukraine's envoy to UN ahead of emergency meeting

That’s according to Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the UN Andriy Melnyk, who spoke in a comment to Ukrinform’s staff correspondent in New York.

"The Security Council has no right to stand aside from the largest and bloodiest armed aggression in Europe since 1945, which was launched by Russia," the Permanent Representative said.

In his opinion, "it is the Security Council that must take all measures laid down in the UN Charter to put an end to this madness and force Moscow to stop its daily war crimes against the civilians in Ukraine and get out of our land."

Melnyk expressed gratitude to the Permanent Representative of Guyana, which holds the presidency of the Security Council in June, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, for convening the meeting, as well as to “other members of the Security Council for their support for this initiative of the Ukrainian side.”

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the UN Security Council will convene on Friday, June 20, for an emergency meeting at Ukraine’s request in connection with the unprecedented escalation of Russian air attacks on Ukrainian cities.

The meeting is expected to begin at 15:00 Eastern Time (22:00 Kyiv time). The Ukrainian delegation will report on the latest strikes, including massive attacks on Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odesa, Lviv, and other cities.