UN chief to hold separate meetings with Putin, Zelenskyy as part of peace efforts

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will be visiting Moscow on Tuesday. He is scheduled to have a working meeting and lunch with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. He will also hold a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“He hopes to talk about what can be done to bring peace to Ukraine urgently,” said UN Associate Spokesperson Eri Kaneko.

Another statement issued by his office later said that the UN chief will be traveling to Ukraine on April 28. There, he will have a working meeting in Kyiv with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “He will also meet with the staff of UN agencies to discuss the scaling up of humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine,” said the statement.

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Earlier, Guterres had written letters to both the presidents seeking meetings with them. The letters were handed over to the countries’ respective UN Missions in New York on April 19.

On April 20, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said, “The Secretary-General said, at this time of great peril and consequence, he would like to discuss urgent steps to bring about peace in Ukraine and the future of multilateralism based on the charter of the United Nations and international law.”

This comes at a time when there has been no cessation of military offensive in war-torn Ukraine. The UN has been calling for a ceasefire and urging both sides to look at a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

Meanwhile, a statement from the UN also said Guterres will visit the Turkish capital on Monday, where he will be received by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. The UN aid chief, Martin Griffiths, said on April 18 that Turkey was a valuable host for humanitarian talks between Ukraine and Russia.

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