“Putin raised his middle finger to the UN Secretary-General”

[이데일리 장영은 기자] Ukrainians have argued that Russia’s missile attack on the Ukrainian capital, Kiiu, where the UN secretary-general is visiting, was an insult to the United Nations and the West.

Ukraine claims that President Vladimir Putin’s attack on Kii on the 28th (local time) was intended to reproach the United Nations and the West. (Photo = AFP)

According to the Associated Press on the 29th (local time), Kiiu mayor Vitali Klicichko criticized the attack on the same day, saying, “Russian President Vladimir Putin raised his middle finger to Guterres.”

The day before (28th), Russia launched a missile attack on Kiiu, visited by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video speech released on the same day, “Russian missiles flew into the city right after the meeting (with Guterres) in Kiiu today. “The Russian leadership is trying to insult the United Nations and everything that it represents,” he said.

The Russian missile attack was reportedly carried out just an hour after a meeting between President Zelensky and Secretary-General Guterres ended. It is the first time Russia has launched an attack on Kiiw since it retreated from the northern regions earlier this month and began concentrating its firepower on the southeast. One person was killed and 10 others were injured in the attack.

UN Secretary-General Guterres made a series of visits to Russia and Ukraine to end the war in Ukraine. (Photo = AFP)

“The attack is the most daring of a Russian attack on the (Ukraine) capital since the retreat of the Russian army that failed to capture Kii a few weeks ago,” Al Jazeera reported. “This is a clear signal that Russia intends to continue the war despite pressure from the international community,” said Volodymir Pesenko, a political analyst in Ukraine.

Guterres’ spokesman said: “The secretary-general accepted that the Russian attack was not intended to insult him.” “This attack is another sign that there are forces that want to continue the war in Ukraine,” the UN said in a statement.

At a briefing on the same day, the Russian Ministry of Defense asserted that “the day before, the production facility of Artiom, a rocket and space company in Kyiv (Kiiv), was destroyed with a high-precision, long-range missile.” It is said that it was merely an attack on a military-related facility.