UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres asked this Tuesday (19) Russia And Ukraine A four-day truce in their fight with Orthodox Easter, that is, from the following Thursday (21) to Sunday (24), when the conflict completes two months.
The ceasefire, coordinated with the International Committee of the Red Cross, will provide humanitarian assistance to the evacuation of civilians and the “most punished” populations in eastern Ukraine, mainly Mariupol, Kherson, Donetsk and Lugansk.
Guterres said the “humanitarian pause”, he said, was being communicated to the parties in detail, but did not say whether he had already received a response from the governments concerned.
The Secretary-General said that the UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths had communicated the proposal to the Council of Churches of Ukraine – which includes Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim and Jewish – and received their support, but that there was no mention of its contacts with Russia. not mentioned.
Furthermore, he remarked that the escalation of the Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine represented “a denial of the Easter message, which is a celebration of new life”.
“Hundreds of thousands of lives are at stake. Shut up the weapons,” he pleaded.
Getters recalled that, at the moment, 12 million people are in need of humanitarian aid in Ukraine, but predicted that this number would soon rise to 15.7 million, representing 40% of the population that remained in the country despite the fighting. made of.
When asked about the possibility of a mission to Ukraine and Russia, he declined to answer the question.
