The presence of Russia in the United Nations Security Council casts doubt on the legitimacy of the whole United Nations system, says Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba.

"Can the rule-based world survive if a country occupying a seat as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (i.e. one of the five countries tasked with protecting the world) tramples upon it in the most demonstrative, outrageous manner? Over the past year, Russia has invaded a neighboring country, attempted to annex its territory, systematically shelled residential areas, obliterated entire cities and villages, raped, looted, committed genocide and implemented probably the largest campaign of forcible transfer of children in modern history. Russia didn't just breach peace — it tore it to shreds," he said in an opinion piece for The Hill, according to the press service of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine.

The minister recalled that in 1945, humankind came together to create the United Nations for the protection of common rules and the rule of law. The United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France and China became the five "the judges of the world" responsible for upholding international peace and security.

"With Russia's war on Ukraine, we see that one of the judges has gone rogue. Instead of safeguarding international peace, Russia is challenging the world's very existence. Instead of being a protector, it has become an aggressor. Instead of being a cure, it became a disease," Kuleba said.

The minister also recalled that it was not an isolated instance.

"Russia put itself above and beyond rules a long time ago – by attacking Georgia in 2008, by threatening Moldova, by illegally annexing Ukrainian Crimea in 2014, by meddling in U.S. domestic politics, by weaponizing energy and information, by inculcating its own population with the ideology of militarism and imperialism, by systematically using illegal drugs in international sports, by sending its Wagner mercenaries to destabilize and exploit Africa," he said.

"We arrived at this dark point because Russia was allowed to believe it had total impunity. This started with Russian representatives illegally usurping the USSR's seat at the United Nations Security Council in December 1991. Not a single legal procedure defined by the UN Charter was upheld. The simple change of the Soviet name plate to the Russian one was the largest diplomatic fraud of the 20th century. Let me reiterate what I said at the United Nations Security Council in February: Russia has turned the seat of a permanent member into a throne of impunity. We are now dealing with the consequences of the breach of rules that happened 32 years ago," Kuleba said.

He also said that Russia's war must end with Russian President Vladimir Putin's clear defeat. But it must also bring about a fundamental rethinking of the global security system and a reform of the international bodies tasked with upholding and restoring peace.

"Russia never legally acquired its status as a permanent UN Security Council member and must lose its seat in this esteemed chamber. Until that happens, the criminal in a judge's seat will continue to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the whole United Nations system," the Ukrainian minister said.