Antonio Guterres is preparing to meet Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky next week. His face-to-face appeal comes as Moscow plans to widen its war ambitions in southern Ukraine too, days after shifting focus from the capital city of Kyiv to the east. “He hopes to talk about what can be done to bring peace to Ukraine urgently,” said UN associate spokesperson Eri Kaneko.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and British prime minister Boris Johnson have also visited Ukraine to show support for the country.
Russia says it will fight until it “takes control over all east and south of Ukraine” Ukraine’s defence ministry says its forces have captured a large arms depot in the Kharkiv region. Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said diplomatic efforts to end the war remained stalled.
Nearly five million Ukrainians have fled the country and thousands have been killed by Russian-backed pro-Russian rebels.
