Russia-Ukraine War: UN Calls For Ceasefire!
…Declares, “No Victor, No Vanquished”
By EPHRAIM NWOSU
As the war between Russia and Ukraine continue to rage, United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres has voiced his support for a ceasefire.
Guterres who briefed journalists outside the Security Council in New York, disclosed that diplomatic progress had been made to halt hostilities. The war is now on its fourth week with little sign of ending.
“It’s time for a diplomatic solution to be found to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, amidst signs of hope that progress can be made to end an “unwinnable” war,” posited the UN chief.
He said there was “enough on the table” for an immediate ceasefire and the start of the serious talks to stop the slaughter in Ukrainian cities such as Mariupol.
“Sooner or later, it will have to move from the battlefield to the peace table. This is inevitable. The only question is: How many more lives must be lost? How many more bombs must fall? How many more Ukrainian and Russians will be killed before everyone realizes that the war has no winners-only losers?”
” Continuing the fighting is morally, unacceptable, politically indefensible and militarily nonsensical, ” Guterres added.
He recalled that Russia launched its invasion on Ukraine a month ago in violation of UN Charter.
” The war is going nowhere, fast. For more than two weeks, Mariupol has been encircled by the Russian army and relentlessly bombed, shelled and attacked. For what? Even if Mariupol falls,” he warned, ” Ukraine cannot be conquered city by city, street by street, house by house.
” The only outcome would be more suffering. 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.”
He repeated his concern that developing countries-after just a month of brutal fighting in one of the world’s grain producing breadbaskets, and already suffocating under the burden of COVID and inadequate financing-were already suffering economic shocks worldwide.
“What I said from this podium almost one month ago should be even more evident today. By any measure- by even the shrewdest calculation, it is time to stop the fighting and give peace a chance. It’s time to end this absurd war.”
Meanwhile, more than 3.5 million refugees have fled Ukraine, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday, citing massive needs among the new arrivals.
“This is really another tragic milestone for the people of Ukraine and it’s been achieved in just under one month,” said Matthew Saltmarsh, spokesperson for the UN refugee agency UNHCR. Confirming UNHCR data, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) representative in Poland, Dr Paloma Cushi said that Ukraine’s neighbour had welcomed ” around two million people, this is about 61 per cent of the refugees in Poland.
