UN secretary general ‘p----d off’ with Volodymyr Zelensky for photoshoot ambush

The United Nations secretary-general was “really p----d off” with Volodymyr Zelensky after the Ukrainian president ambushed him with a surprise military medal ceremony, according to leaked US documents.

Aides of Antonio Guterres accused Mr Zelensky of springing the event on their boss without warning on his third visit to the war-torn country.

The classified intelligence briefing, first reported by the Washington Post, suggests that the US have been eavesdropping on Mr Guterres's private communications.

In one leaked document, US officials said Mr Guterres “emphasised that he made a point of not smiling the entire time” through the medal ceremony.

During the surprise event on March 8, Mr Zelensky handed out medals to uniformed Ukrainian soldiers.

The Ukrainian president’s office later released photographs and videos of the event that implied Mr Guterres had congratulated the military personnel.

This could have damaged the image the UN chief was trying to create for himself as a natural intermediary positioned between Moscow and Kyiv.

Mr Gutteres later told his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, that he travelled to Kyiv to assist Ukraine, but that the Ukrainians “do everything to liquidate us”, according to the intelligence document.

The aide told the Washington Post that his boss “was indeed unpleasantly surprised that a medal ceremony was added, without consultation, at the end of his very productive meeting in Kyiv with Ukrainian leaders”.

“However, he categorically denies using the term ‘liquidate’,” Mr Dujarric added.

The leaked briefing has added fuel to the fire of suggestions that Washington feared Mr Gutteres was undermining international campaigns to hold Russia accountable for the war in Ukraine.

The classified documents were part of a trove of national security reports, allegedly leaked onto the Discord messaging platform.

Jack Teixeira, 21, a US Air National Guard, faces up to 15 years in prison if found guilty after he was charged last Friday with taking and transmitting the classified papers.

Elsewhere, Egypt reversed a plan to give rockets to Russia after talks with top US officials and instead offered to make artillery shells for Ukraine.

Secret deal 'to avoid problems with the West'

The documents reported by the Washington Post gave further detail about Egypt's role, which was detailed in earlier leaks last week.

According to the classified documents that emerged last week, Cairo planned to produce up to 40,000 rockets for Moscow, and told its officials to keep the deal secret “to avoid problems with the West”.

The new documents suggested that Abdel Fatah El-Sisi, the Egyptian president, ditched the idea in early March.

Instead, Cairo decided to sell 155mm artillery shells, which were in short supply in the US, to Washington, which would then send them to Ukraine.

It reportedly put a stop to the alleged Moscow plan following visits to Cairo by senior US state department officials, and defence secretary Lloyd Austin, in late February and early March.

An intelligence assessment on March 9, the day after the defence secretary was in Cairo, showed Egypt had approved selling 155mm artillery shells to the US, the Washington Post reported.