UN chief calls on Russia to end 'unwinnable' Ukraine war

UN chief Antonio Guterres said Tuesday that it was time for Russia to end their "absurd war" in Ukraine, declaring the conflict "unwinnable." The Secretary General told reporters at the world body's headquarters in New York that 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?" he said. "Even if Mariupol falls, Ukraine cannot be conquered city by city, street by street, house by house." Guterres added that "the only outcome" to more fighting was "more suffering, more destruction, and more horror as far as the eye can see."

Guterres said though that he believed diplomatic negotiations to bring a halt to fighting were making headway. "There is enough on the table to cease hostilities now and seriously negotiate now. "This war is unwinnable. Sooner or later, it will have to move from the battlefield to the peace table. That is inevitable," he added. Guterres said some 10 million Ukrainians have fled from their homes and warned the reverberations of war were being felt globally “with skyrocketing food, energy and fertiliser prices threatening to spiral into a global hunger crisis”. A month of talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials have so far failed to stop or even slow a war that has forced some 3.5 million Ukrainians to leave not only their homes, but to flee the country.