New Telegraph

Ukraine Conflict: UN chief to visit Turkey before Moscow, Kyiv

 

The UN’s Secretary General will visit Turkey before heading to Moscow and Kyiv.

According to a statement from the UN, Antonio Guterres will visit the capital Ankara on Monday, where he will meet Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reports the BBC.

He will then head to Moscow on Tuesday, where he is set to meet Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and have a “working lunch” with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

His final stop will then be in Kyiv on Thursday, where he will meet Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

Turkey has served as a mediator between Ukraine and Russia during the war and has hosted peace talks between the two sides.

But the UN’s decision to visit Russia before Ukraine has been criticised by Zelensky.

“The war is in Ukraine, there are no bodies in the streets of Moscow. It would be logical to go first to Ukraine, to see the people there, the consequences of the occupation,” he said on Saturday.

Meanwhile, according to Ukraine’s President Zelensky, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin will visit the capital Kyiv later today.

The White House, however, has still not commented.

It’s likely Zelensky will make an appeal for more heavy weapons during the meeting, which he earlier said are absolutely vital to Ukraine’s war effort.

“We will talk about the weapons we need and about the time framework for deliveries,” he said on Saturday.

Among the officials who have already travelled to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion are the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, who stopped in Bucha; the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borell; the leaders of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland; and most recently, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Read Previous

Real Betis beat Valencia on penalties to win Copa

Read Next

French vote as Macron aims to beat far-right Le Pen

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *