THE UN AND UKRAINIAN DIPLOMACY IN THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE AND TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF UKRAINE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

Abstract

The article highlights the activities of the United Nations and the UN Security Council during the Russian-Ukrainian war of 2014-2023 and the activity of Ukrainian diplomacy in defending Ukraine's independence and territorial integrity. The author analyses, in particular, the voting processes at the UN General Assembly and Security Council meetings on issues related to the Russian aggression against Ukraine and points out their ineffectiveness. The author emphasises the need to reform all UN activities in accordance with the current challenges of the global world in the context of the formation of a new, multipolar system of international relations. Particular attention is paid to the acute problem of transforming the most influential body of the United Nations - the Security Council, its structure and decision-making mechanisms, which have been based on the principle of division into permanent and non-permanent members since 1945. The principle of division into permanent and non-permanent members and veto power for the former - the United States, the USSR (and today its illegal successor, the Russian Federation), the People's Republic of China, France and the United Kingdom - no longer corresponds to current realities, as the exclusive possession of veto power by the leading players in world politics is a direct violation of the principle of equality of UN member states. The article also examines the active work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine during the Russian war against Ukraine. It is not only about the realisation of the complex current tasks of expanding an effective pro-Ukrainian coalition in the world, restoring universal respect for the UN Charter and the equal rights of independent states and peoples, but also about the prospects for post-war arrangements in Europe and the world with Ukraine's active participation. It is concluded that Ukrainian diplomacy, in the difficult conditions of martial law and the crisis of the UN and the entire international security system, is quite adequately fulfilling its responsible mission of protecting Ukraine's national interests in the modern global world.