UN Secretary-General António Guterres continues his mediation tour of the conflict in Ukraine and wants to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kiev on Thursday. As with the previous visit to Moscow, one of the main topics will likely be the situation in the port of Mariupol, in southeastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian troops and civilians are surrounded by the Russian army.
A meeting with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is also planned in Kiev – followed by a visit to an as-yet-undisclosed location outside the capital. According to the United Nations, Guterres arrived in Kiev by train on Tuesday night.
He had already met Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow. According to the UN, Putin described a role for the United Nations in the evacuation of Mariupol as a possibility. The president “in principle” agreed to the participation of the UN and the Red Cross, he said. Guterres has repeatedly criticized the Russian invasion of Ukraine and called for a ceasefire.
Recently, pressure has increased on the UN Secretary General to take a more active role in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24.