UN Affirms Readiness to Aid Peace Efforts in Ukraine

Spokesman for Secretary-General Briefs Press at Noon Briefing

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed recent diplomatic efforts led by the United States towards a peaceful settlement in Ukraine, his Spokesperson said on Tuesday in New York.

Stéphane Dujarric was responding to a journalist’s question about the meeting held the previous day between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, US President Donald Trump, and several European leaders at the White House.

That meeting followed talks last week between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in Alaska.

“It’s very important that all involved continue to stay actively engaged in what we want to see as an inclusive dialogue to sustain the important momentum that was created to bring an immediate ceasefire and sustainable peace in Ukraine,” Mr. Dujarric said.

Nearly four years have passed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with more than 13,000 civilians killed, according to UN human rights monitors.

Asked about the possibility of a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian Presidents, Mr. Dujarric noted that while there is much discussion around “potential dialogues or formats, location,” it is “obviously important that those parties who are directly involved in this conflict be able to speak to each other directly.”

On the UN’s possible role in the peace process, he said the global body would be “supportive and ready to engage in a role that may or may not be given to us, based on the principles that the Secretary-General has often reiterated.”

When pressed on whether UN peacekeepers could be deployed to Ukraine, he stressed that “any peacekeeping mission anywhere would have to go through the Security Council.”