UN Chief to meet Russian President Putin on April 26, will meet Ukraine's Zelenskyy on 28

In a bid to bolster efforts toward ending the all-out Russian war on Ukraine, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres is set to travel to Moscow on April 26. Gutteres will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for lunch and working discussions. According to UN spokesperson Eri Kaneko, the "urgent visit" is significant as the war entered day 58.

The UN chief will discuss "steps that can be taken right now in order to silence the guns, in order to help the people, and in order to allow the people who need to get out and have safe passage," Kaneko told reporters.

The meeting was confirmed by Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov.

Notably, the visit was announced shortly after Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova about four days ago slammed the apex peacekeeping body for neglected behaviour towards Russia since the beginning of the "special military operation." She had called out Secretary-General Gutteres of "not being in touch" even with the Permanent Mission of Russia to the UN or Russian Foreign Ministry to discuss the worst war on Europe's soil in decades.

However, there have been reports that Putin had largely sidelined the chief of the UN since his invasion of Ukraine. Besides violating the UN Charter by annulling the Minsk Agreement and attacking its neighbour, Putin has also avoided calls from Guterres' office and blindsided his calls for an immediate cessation of violence. Noting Russian leader "skeptical" about the calls, UN officials stated that Moscow prioritised their overtures towards peace.

UN spokesperson Kaneko took to Twitter to announce Guterres' visit, adding that the Secretary-General will head for Ukraine after Moscow.

UN chief to meet Zelenskyy, Kuleba during a visit to Ukraine on Apr 28

Following his two-day visit to Moscow, Guterres will embark on a trip to Ukraine. In a statement, Kaneko informed that “The Secretary-General will visit Ukraine next week. He will have a working meeting with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and will be received by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on 28 April. He will also meet with staff of UN agencies to discuss the scaling up of humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine." The announcement came hours after Kaneko informed about Guterres' visit to Moscow on April 26.

The developments come days after the UN chief delivered an address in front of the UN peace sculpture at the UN headquarters in New York. He had called for the rival armies to lay down guns over the Orthodox faith's Easter holiday, beginning a four-day truce on Thursday. However, his request was disregarded with Russia announcing a complete take over of the port city of Mariupol. Further, the Russian Federation also claimed to take most control of the southern and eastern cities in Ukraine.

(Image: AP)