António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, on Thursday stressed the importance of “scaling up humanitarian aid and ensuring the evacuation of civilians in conflict zones” in Ukraine, the central theme of his visit to Moscow and Kyiv this week.
Guterres’ presence in Ukraine follows talks between the UN Secretary-General in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin. One of the main topics was the humanitarian situation in Ukraine and measures for a trilateral solution to these problems with the participation of the Russian Federation, Ukraine and the UN.
After talks with Putin, Guterres’ office said the UN was discussing with Moscow and Kyiv a mechanism to evacuate civilians in Ukraine and that the organization was sending additional personnel to Ukraine to conduct humanitarian operations.
Guterres suggested setting up a contact group with Russia and Ukraine to explore options for opening safe humanitarian corridors with a ceasefire to ensure they are truly effective in the fighting-hit areas of Ukraine.