UN Secretary-General António Guterres also visited several devastated suburbs of Kiev, Ukraine.
“I imagine my family in one of those houses that are now dilapidated and black. And I see my granddaughters running away in panic,” says Guterres during his visit to the small town of Borodyanka.
War is unacceptable in the 21st century, he added. The UN Secretary-General wanted to meet today with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Meeting with Putin and Lavrov
Two months after the start of the Russian war of aggression, Guterres is on a mediation mission in the region. On Tuesday, he was received in Moscow by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. In Moscow, Guterres repeatedly criticized the Russian invasion of Ukraine and called for humanitarian corridors for civilians. According to the United Nations, Putin agreed in principle to the participation of the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross in the evacuation of the Azovstal steelworks.
Recently, pressure has grown on the UN Secretary General to take a more active role in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.