Picture : Twitter / ANI
A month into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said this “absurd” war is “unwinnable” and inevitably it will have to move from the battlefield to the peace table as he voiced concern that reverberations from the conflict threaten to spiral into a global hunger crisis.
As per PTI report, Voicing concern that 10 million Ukrainians have been forced from their homes and are on the move, Guterres said the world is seeing appalling human suffering and destruction in Ukraine’s cities, towns and villages.
“One month ago, the Russian Federation launched a massive invasion of the sovereign territory of Ukraine in violation of the UN Charter. It was done after months of building up a military force of overwhelming proportion along the Ukrainian border,” Guterres said in his remarks to the press.
“This war is unwinnable. Sooner or later, it will have to move from the battlefield to the peace table. That is inevitable,” he said.
The systematic bombardments that terrorise civilians and shelling of hospitals, schools, apartment buildings and shelters is intensifying and getting more destructive and more unpredictable by the hour, he said.
Guterres said that the Ukrainian people are enduring a living hell – and the reverberations are being felt worldwide with skyrocketing food, energy and fertilizer prices threatening to spiral into a global hunger crisis.
Developing countries were already suffocating under the burden of COVID-19 and a lack of access to adequate financing, they are also paying a heavy price as a result of this war, he said.
The UN chief said that from his outreach with various actors, elements of diplomatic progress are coming into view on several key issues.
“There is enough on the table to cease hostilities – now and seriously negotiate — now.
“By any measure, by even the shrewdest calculation, it is time to stop the fighting now and give peace a chance. It is time to end this absurd war,” he said.
