Def. min. criticises Ukraine over proposed German Security Council seat
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky seems to have forgotten that Germany did not come to Ukraine's aid following Russia's invasion, Poland's defence minister has said commenting on Zelensky's proposal that Germany be made a permanent member of the UN Security Council (UNSC).
On Wednesday, during a speech made at the UN General Assembly in New York, Zelensky said the UNSC should be expanded with seats for other countries, including Germany.
Speaking on public radio on Thursday, Mariusz Blaszczak described the proposal as "quite strange."
"Germany should settle its account with Poland respecting Word War II," Blaszczak said. "The claim we have filed with Germany for war reparations is still valid. Germany committed war crimes in occupied Poland. Six million Poles were murdered by the Germans. The economy was destroyed. Germany replies that nothing happened, that it was some Nazis that invaded Poland in 1939."
The defence minister went on to say Zelensky seemed to have forgotten that Berlin did not come to his country's aid after Russia invaded in February 2022.
"It is clear that President Zelensky's calculations are different," he said. "He is pursuing a policy he thinks is right, but from the Polish point of view it is really a big disappointment."
During an open debate at the UNSC on Wednesday, Zelensky said the UN could have stopped Russia's aggression and genocide if not for Russia's power of veto on the Council. He added that a return to fulfilment of the UN Charter was a key condition of Ukraine's peace plan but for that to happen, changes were needed at the UN, and he called for systemic reform.
He also called for the UNSC to be expanded to include new permanent members such as the African Union, India, Japan, Islamic countries, Pacific and South American states and Germany, among others.
There are currently five permanent members of the UN Security Council: the USA, China, France, Russia and the United Kingdom in addition to 10 non-permanent members chosen for a term of two years.
