UNITED NATIONS: More than 140 world leaders will head to the United Nations next week at a time of myriad crises, as a starring role for Ukraine’s leader may only highlight the growing global fragmentation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was obliged to appear virtually a year ago, will join other leaders, including United States President Joe Biden, when the UN General Assembly formally opens on Tuesday as he seeks to rally support against Russia’s invasion of his country.

But while Western powers have rallied behind Ukraine, the war has exposed deep divisions, with some developing countries uneasy about the billions of dollars devoted to Kyiv, even as the war also affects the poor by driving up food prices.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will kick off the week on Monday with a summit on development, hoping to keep a focus on meeting elusive goals for helping the neediest countries.

“We will be gathering at a time when humanity faces huge challenges, from the worsening climate emergency to escalating conflicts, the global cost-of-living crisis, soaring inequalities and dramatic technological disruptions,” Guterres said of the assembly.

“People are looking to their leaders for a way out of this mess. Yet in the face of all this and more, geopolitical divisions are undermining our capacity to respond,” he added. “A multipolar world is emerging. Multipolarity can be a factor of equilibrium. But it can also lead to escalating tensions, fragmentation and worse.”

Zelenskyy is expected to attend on Wednesday a special session on Ukraine at the UN Security Council, raising the possibility of a dramatic confrontation with Russia, a veto-wielding permanent member. He will head to Washington, D.C. the next day for talks at the White House and on Capitol Hill.

Despite the leading role, Zelenskyy “has to tread carefully,” said Richard Gowan, a UN expert at the International Crisis Group.

“If he’s too hardline, he may actually turn this opportunity into a bit of a diplomatic crisis,” he added.

An overwhelming majority of countries have voted to condemn Russia’s invasion, launched on Feb. 24, 2022.

But some leaders, including Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, “have made it very clear that they believe that now it’s time for diplomacy, and you may see quite a lot of friction between the Ukrainians and countries from the Global South,” Gowan said.

A senior European diplomat said the war was “stealing away political and economic attention” from other pressing problems, such as food insecurity, the climate crisis, inequalities and access to finance.

“There is a growing rift between the developing world and the developed world. Preparing for this week is also making sure that that rift doesn’t grow further,” the diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

At the summit on Monday, governments will be urged to show new urgency in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals — 17 wide-ranging aims, including ending extreme poverty, that the UN wants to fulfill by 2030.

A UN report warned that the goals are in peril, with the coronavirus pandemic and crushing debts setting back efforts in much of the developing world.