Zelenskyy: Ukraine has right to say: we want to ‘revive’ UN

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for "reviving" the United Nations and its charter.

According to an Ukrinform correspondent, the head of state said this at the 76th session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, September 22.

Speaking about the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, Zelenskyy noted that Ukraine did not expect help from others, but it helped others combat COVID-19, including by sending doctors and the necessary assets to Italy.

"Ukraine helped everyone who needed it at a time when the world had forgotten that the pandemic would not last forever, and that all nations would one day gather here again. But how will they look each other in the eyes now? Ukraine is not ashamed. It has the right to say: we want to 'revive' the UN. To begin with, its Charter must be revived," Zelenskyy said.

Speaking about inequality in the distribution of vaccines, he said: "We played equality, we played unity, where it's one thing to share common goals, and it's another to share vaccines together. […] We are all people, we are all in the same boat, but lifeboats will first be given to the 1st class passengers."

According to Zelenskyy, nobody could have imagined that drugs would ever become a tool for discrimination. "In the context of constant conversations about the global food crisis, it is interesting: will we ever share bread and water in the same way?" Zelenskyy said.