NEW YORK, UNITED STATES, 18 April 2022 (AFP) UN UnderSecretaryGeneral for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths announced Monday that he would travel to Turkey to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week on the creation of a “humanitarian contact group” involving Ukraine and Russia.
This group “would meet, convened by the UN, to discuss humanitarian issues, virtually or in real life, at any time,” said the head of the United Nations Humanitarian Branch in New York. Security corridors, humanitarian corridors and other issues between the two warring factions since Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine, he said.
Griffiths and UN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres spoke to Erdogan by phone on Sunday about the initiative.
Russia has been accused of targeting civilians in Ukraine in recent weeks. Aid organizations have warned of the need to protect and evacuate civilians affected by the conflict.
Griffiths confirmed today that Moscow “is not putting local ceasefire agreements high on its agenda”. Ukraine has accepted most of the UN’s humanitarian proposals, but Russia has not yet, the diplomat said.
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