United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called for separate meetings with Presidents of Russia Vladimir Putin and Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenski to try to end the war between those two countries.
The minister’s spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, assured in a press conference that letters with the applications had been handed over to the permanent representations of Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday.
“In these letters, the Secretary-General asked President Vladimir Putin to receive him in Moscow and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to receive him in Kyiv,” Dujarric confirmed.
The spokesman explained that Guterres wanted to speak “at this moment of great danger” about urgent measures to achieve peace in Ukraine and “a future of multilateralism based on the Charter of the United Nations and international law”.
Guterres recalled that Ukraine and Russia are founding members of the UN and that, according to Dujarric, they have “always been strong supporters”.
See also: Zelenskyy: Ukraine could have ended the war with Russia if it had access to all the weapons it needed
Moscow began its attacks on Ukraine last February 24th. The European Union (EU), the United States and the United Kingdom, among others, have imposed tough financial sanctions on the attackers, and several multinational companies have suspended their operations in Russia.
The United Nations estimates that at least 2,104 civilians have been killed and 2,862 wounded in Ukraine’s war so far, although the actual number is believed to be much higher.
Five million Ukrainians have already fled to other countries, and more than seven million people are now internally displaced, according to the UN refugee agency.
*Translated by Daniel Gallego.
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