The UN humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths said on Monday that Russia “does not have the ceasefire (in Ukraine) high on its agenda”not even to allow the evacuation of civilians or organize the entry of humanitarian aid in the most affected cities.
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“Ceasefire is not on the horizon, maybe in a couple of weeksThis will depend on the talks, because a minimum of confidence-building is needed (first), Griffiths said at a press conference at the UN headquarters.
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Any progress in this regard will first depend on the two parties sitting down to talk, “but if they don’t even sit down and blame each other, we can’t move forward,” he lamented. However, on several occasions he cited Russia as the main responsible for this blockade.
He advocated creating what he called “windows of silence”, a formula that has worked in recent years in the low-intensity warfare in Donbas (eastern Ukraine) and which involved briefly stopping the fighting to allow material to pass through. medical or humanitarian, as well as the departure of civilians.
Griffiths said that the only serious mediation effort currently underway is the one carried out by the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and announced that he plans to travel to Turkey this week to promote talks between the two parties.
In any case, he insisted that “We have to get more acceptance from Russia, especially to allow humanitarian convoys,” particularly in the city of Mariupol, where, he acknowledged, it is impossible to know how many people are trapped.
Finally, he also warned about what this war is assuming in “the legacy of disaffection among the peoples (of the world), something that becomes more critical with each passing week”, and said that it is what he felt on his last visit to Moscow. “It’s going to take a generation (to get over it),” she said.
Also today, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, said he felt gravely concerned about the “dreadful humanitarian situation in the besieged city of Mariupol, largely destroyed after weeks of relentless Russian attacks”, and called on “the parties to take all necessary measures to avoid civilian casualties”.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from EFE
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