UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine next week after a stop in Moscow to confer with President Vladimir Putin about the war, the UN said Friday.
Guterres will see Zelensky and Ukraine's foreign minister on Thursday, two days after visiting Moscow, the United Nations said in a statement.
The Kremlin confirmed Friday that Putin would meet Guterres on Tuesday.
Guterres sent letters this week requesting these in-person meetings to try to regain the initiative for the UN, which has been largely marginalised from the crisis since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
In part, this is because the war has divided the UN Security Council permanent members: the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia.
Guterres has had little contact with Zelensky since the war began, speaking with him just once by telephone, on March 26.
Putin has not taken Guterres's phone calls, or had any contact with him since the UN chief stated that the invasion violated the UN charter.
Zelensky on Saturday criticised a decision by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to visit Moscow on Tuesday, before heading to Kyiv.
¡°It is simply wrong to go first to Russia and then to Ukraine,¡± Zelenskyy told reporters in the Ukrainian capital.
¡°There is no justice and no logic in this order,¡± he added.
The UN has been largely marginalized in the crisis since Russian leader Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine on February 24.
Guterres will be kicking off his mediation mission to end the Moscow-Kiev conflict with a visit to Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday.
In a brief note to correspondents on Saturday evening, the UN chief's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that Guterres will be "received" by Erdogan in Ankara.
Turkey has been the hub of diplomacy for Russia and Ukraine and consulting with Erdogan could help Guterres prepare for his meetings with Putin on Tuesday and with Zelensky on Thursday.
Because of Erdogan's good relations with Ukrainian and Russian leaders as well as his country's membership in the Western military alliance NATO, Ankara has taken the lead in mediation efforts and the representatives of the two countries have met in Turkey.
Before Guterres begins his round of diplomacy, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin are to visit Kiev on Sunday in a show of solidarity with Ukraine, Zelensky announced at a press conference on Saturday.
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