UN chief to see Putin and Zelenskiy next week

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will travel to Moscow next week to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, then to Ukraine to discuss with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Guterres will travel to Moscow on Tuesday and meet with Putin as well as have a working meeting and luncheon with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Eri Kaneko, Guterres’ associate spokesman, told a press conference in New York on Friday.

Guterres has had little contact with Zelensky since the beginning of the war, speaking to him once over the phone on 26 March. Putin did not take Guterres’ phone calls or had any contact with him, as the head of the UN said the invasion violated the UN charter.

“He hopes to speak of what can be done to bring peace to Ukraine urgently,” Kaneko declared.

He will meet with Zelenskiy on Thursday, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, and UN agency staff to discuss the intensification of humanitarian assistance efforts, the UN spokesman’s office declared in a statement.

Guterres had requested to meet with the leaders of the two nations in separate letters to their countries’ permanent missions to the UN.