Russia-Ukraine war: UN head urges for meeting with Putin, Zelenskyy in bid to end war

In a bid to end the Russia-led war on Ukraine and maintain peace in the war-hit zone, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote to Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy to receive him in Moscow and Kyiv. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric mentioned that both letters were sent to respective countries' UN Missions in New York on Tuesday.

The request holds relevance as the Kremlin forces waged a full-fledged war on the eastern European country on the pretext of a 'special military operation' in Ukraine. This comes after foreign ministers of both countries met in Turkey on March 10 to negotiate a ceasefire and end the conflict.

It may be noted that ongoing tension revived elements of a conflict that began eight years ago with the annexation of Crimea in 2014. So far, the military clash had caused thousands of fatalities on both sides and over five million refugees. In March, the UN refugee agency deemed the ongoing displacement as Europe's largest influx of refugees since World War II.

"In eastern Ukraine, some 1.4 million people are without access to running water, including in the besieged port city of Mariupol.  Millions more have only limited access to water and electricity," a UN report stated.

UN chief urges Russian President & Ukrainian President to meet in Moscow & Kyiv

With an objective to 'discuss urgent steps to bring about peace in Ukraine', the UN head called for in-person communication with both leaders at loggerheads. "In these letters, the Secretary-General asked President Vladimir Putin to receive him in Moscow and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to receive him in Kyiv," the UN official stated. 

"The Secretary-General said, at this time of great peril and consequence, he would like to discuss urgent steps to bring about peace in Ukraine and the future of multilateralism based on the Charter of the United Nations and international law,” said Dujarric. 

He further said that the UN head underlined that both Ukraine and Russia are founding members of the United Nations and have strongly supported the organisation over the years.