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Ukraine Says Russian Security Council Presidency is Absurd

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy talks during an interview with Reuters after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 1, 2022. REUTERS/Umit Bektas/File Photo
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy talks during an interview with Reuters after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 1, 2022. REUTERS/Umit Bektas/File Photo
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Ukraine Says Russian Security Council Presidency is Absurd

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy talks during an interview with Reuters after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 1, 2022. REUTERS/Umit Bektas/File Photo
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy talks during an interview with Reuters after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 1, 2022. REUTERS/Umit Bektas/File Photo

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday said it was absurd Russia had assumed the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council, adding this showed the institution's "total bankruptcy".

On Saturday Russia took over the presidency of the UN's top security body, which rotates every month. The last time Moscow held the post was in February 2022, when its troops launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"Unfortunately, we ... have some obviously absurd and destructive news," Zelenskiy said in an evening video address, adding that Russian shelling had killed a five-month-old boy on Friday.

"And at the same time Russia is chairing the UN Security Council. It's hard to imagine anything that proves more the total bankruptcy of such institutions," he said.

The Kremlin said on Friday it planned to "exercise all its rights" in the role.

The United States on Thursday urged Russia to "conduct itself professionally" when it assumes the role, saying there was no means to block Moscow from the post.

Zelenskiy said it was time for a general overhaul of global institutions, including the Security Council.

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China Discovers Cluster of New Mpox Strain

A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
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China Discovers Cluster of New Mpox Strain

A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Chinese health authorities said on Thursday they had detected the new mutated mpox strain clade Ib as the viral infection spreads to more countries after the World Health Organization declared a global public health emergency last year.
China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention said it had found a cluster outbreak of the Ib subclade that started with the infection a foreigner who has a history of travel and residence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Reuters reported.
Four further cases have been found in people infected after close contact with the foreigner. The patients' symptoms are mild and include skin rash and blisters.
Mpox spreads through close contact and causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions on the body. Although usually mild, it can be fatal in rare cases.
WHO last August declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, following an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that spread to neighboring countries.
The outbreak in DRC began with the spread of an endemic strain, known as clade I. But the clade Ib variant appears to spread more easily through routine close contact, including sexual contact.
The variant has spread from DRC to neighboring countries, including Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, triggering the emergency declaration from the WHO.
China said in August last year it would monitor people and goods entering the country for mpox.
The country's National Health Commission said mpox would be managed as a Category B infectious disease, enabling officials to take emergency measures such as restricting gatherings, suspending work and school, and sealing off areas when there is an outbreak of a disease.