US & EU nations call for UNSC meeting to discuss situation prevailing in Ukraine

Amid escalating conflict between Moscow and Kyiv, the United States and several European Union (EU) nations have urged the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to hold a meeting to discuss the prevailing situation in Ukraine. The request has been sent to the president of the UNSC to hold the meeting on August 24, TASS reported citing sources. According to reports, the meeting is also expected to discuss the outcome of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' current visit to the war-torn country. 

Earlier on Wednesday, August 17, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric stated that the situation surrounding the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) and the shelling of a correctional institution in Yelenovka will also be discussed by the parties during the meeting. UN chief Guterres is currently on a visit to Ukraine where he is expected to meet embattled President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday. According to reports, the meeting between three leaders is slated to take place in  Lviv, near Ukraine’s border with Poland. 

UN hopes for a 'political solution' to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war

Guterres' visit to Ukraine comes nearly a month after the United States and Turkey helped broker a grain deal between Ukraine and Russia which paved the way for Kyiv to export its millions of tons of grain that were stuck in the Black Sea ports since the onset of war. The historic grain corridor deal was signed by the two warring countries in Istanbul on July 22. "Guterres’ trip to Ukraine will allow him “to see first-hand the results of the initiative … that is so critically important to hundreds of millions of people," Dujarric stated, the Associated Press (AP) reported. He further expected that Thursday's meeting in Ukraine would also raise the need for a "political solution" to the war.

It is pertinent to mention here that the delegations of Russia and Ukraine have held several rounds of peace negotiations since the onset of the war on February 24, but they all have failed to achieve the desired results. Earlier in July, David Arakhamiya, People's Deputy of Ukraine, stated that his country might resume peace talks with Russia in August. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government has made it clear that the country will not accept any "ceasefire settlement" that involves ceding territory to Moscow. 

Image: AP