UN chief Guterres to meet Zelenskyy, discuss grain deal extension: Spokesperson

UN chief Antonio Guterres was traveling to Ukraine Tuesday to meet in Kyiv with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his third trip since Russia’s full-scale invasion, his spokesman said.

“The Secretary-General has just arrived in Poland on his way to Ukraine,” Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Guterres was due to arrive in Kyiv later Tuesday before meeting with Zelenskyy Wednesday morning “to discuss the continuation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative [grain export scheme] in all its aspects, as well as other pertinent issues,” the spokesman said.

Guterres is due to depart Ukraine on Wednesday and be back at United Nations headquarters in New York the following day.

No further details were given on the visit, the UN chief’s third after trips to Ukraine in April and August last year in the wake of Russia’s invasion on February 24, 2022.

At a UN Security Council meeting held on the anniversary of the start of the war, Guterres slammed the invasion as a “blatant violation” of the UN Charter and international law.

“It has unleashed widespread death, destruction and displacement,” he told the 15-member council, which includes permanent member Russia, saying life was “a living hell for the people of Ukraine.”

Over the past year, Guterres has regularly offered to act as mediator between Kyiv and Moscow should the two sides want to start a dialogue.