President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for ensuring that all regions of the world are represented in the UN Security Council (UNSC).

“The UN Security Council must be fully accountable to the nations of the world. I welcome the proposals of various leaders to expand the representation of nations in the Security Council. The composition of the permanent members of the Security Council should reflect the current realities. Ukraine considers it unjust when billions of people do NOT have their permanent representation in the Security Council,” he said, speaking at a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York on Wednesday.

“The African Union must be here permanently. Asia deserves broader permanent representation – it cannot be considered normal when nations like Japan, India or the Islamic world remains outside the permanent membership of the Security Council. One should take into account the changes that have taken place in Europe, notably that Germany has become one of the key global guarantors of peace and security,” he said.

“Latin America must be represented here – permanently. And the Pacific states,” he noted.

However, Zelenskyy said, “we should not confine our attention to those in the top seats only. There is a need to expand the participation and access to the activities of the UN Security Council and its subsidiary bodies for all members of the UN General Assembly who are not recognized as aggressors.”

“At the same time, the Security Council’s membership of any state should be suspended for a period of time when such a state resorts to aggression against another nation in violation of the UN Charter,” Zelenskyy stated.