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UN Doing All It Can To Make Evacuation From Ukrainian Steel Plant Possible - Guterres

INTERNATIONAL: U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said after talks in Kyiv on Thursday 28th April that his organization was doing all it could to enable the evacuation of a steel plant where fighters and civilians are holed up in the city of Mariupol.

"At the present moment I can only tell you we are doing everything we can to make it happen. I’m not going to enter into any comment that could undermine that possibility," he said after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The meeting with Zelenskiy followed talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday 26th April where the latter agreed "in principle" to U.N. and International Committee for the Red Cross involvement in evacuating the Azovstal plan.

Russia fired two missiles into Kyiv on Thursday during a visit by U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres and one hit the lower floor of a residential building, injuring at least three people, its mayor said.

 UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL, ANTONIO GUTERRES, SAID:

"Today, Ukraine is an epicentre of unbearable heartache and pain. I witnessed that very vividly today around Kyiv. The senseless loss of life, the massive destruction, the unacceptable violations of human rights and the laws of war. It is vital that the International Criminal Court and other U.N. mechanisms conduct their work so that there can be real accountability. The position of the United Nations is clear. As I said in Moscow, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a violation of its territorial integrity and of the Charter of the United Nations."

"This war must end and peace must be established in line with the Charter of the United Nations and international law. Many leaders have made many good efforts to stop the fighting, but these efforts so far have not succeeded. And I am here to say to you, Mr. President, and to the people of Ukraine: we will not give up. As we keep pushing for a full scale ceasefire and we will also keep striving for immediate practical steps to save lives and reduce human suffering. Effective humanitarian corridors, local cessations of hostilities, safe passage for civilians and supply routes. Today the people of Mariupol are in desperate need for such an approach. Mariupol is a crisis within a crisis. Thousands of civilians need life-saving assistance, many are elderly, in need of medical care or have limited mobility. They need an escape route out of the apocalypse. During my visit to Moscow, President Putin agreed in principle to the involvement of the United Nations and the International Committee for the Red Cross in the evacuations of civilians from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol. Today, President Zelenskiy and I had the opportunity to address this issue, and as we speak there are intense discussions to move forward on this proposal to make it a reality."

Guterres called the situation in Mariupol "a crisis within a crisis", adding that civilians "need an escape route out of the apocalypse."

Referring to the possibility of a United Nations and ICRC-coordinated humanitarian corridor for the hundreds of civilians believed to still be in Azovstal, Guterres said: "As we speak, there are intense discussions to move forward on this proposal to make it a reality."

PHOTO: UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY AND U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTONIO GUTERRES ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE/ ZELENSKIY SPEAKING AT NEWS CONFERENCE


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