“The first issue at the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) summit was the support of the principles of the UN Charter, international law, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. The irony of the situation is that, while defending this right, representatives of all countries, including China, sat silently as Putin spoke about things that absolutely contradict the signed declaration regarding sovereignty and territorial integrity. No one objected to Putin’s interpretation of the attack on Ukraine. And no one added anything further in the declaration about peace”

This was stated by Nataliya Butyrska, Associate Senior Fellow at the New Europe Center, in an interview with Ihor Dolhov, Ukrainian diplomat, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine, Head of Ukraine’s Mission to NATO in 2010–2015.

“The biggest disappointment was the lack of support for peace in Ukraine. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine noted that Putin failed to push through some Russian interpretation of the war in Ukraine, which can already be considered a loss for Russia. But the great disappointment is that there was no support for peace, since Trump initiated this process and it is ongoing. And Ukraine appealed both to India and to China; President Zelensky had a conversation with the President of Kazakhstan about support. Therefore, at this summit we would have liked to hear that they support peace. Even more so – that this would be expressed directly to Putin, with an appeal to him that it is time to end this war”, the analyst explained.

During the conversation, they also discussed:

• the transformation of the international order;

• China’s role in shaping a new security architecture and global governance;

• Russia’s place in relations with China;

• the impact of the war against Ukraine on global processes and more.

Read the full interview on the Ukrinform website at the link here (in Ukrainian).

The video version is available below.