Zelensky announced his readiness for urgent negotiations to evacuate people from Mariupol after a meeting with UN Secretary General Guterres

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky held talks with UN Secretary General António Guterres and announced his readiness for urgent negotiations to evacuate people from Mariupol with the support of the UN. this He announced during a joint press conference following the meeting.

“We discussed the food crisis provoked by Russia, the increase in humanitarian aid for our country, the return home of Ukrainians deported by the occupiers. We appreciate the clear and unequivocal position of Mr. Secretary General,” he said.

In turn, António Guterres said that he was concerned about the situation in Mariupol and considered what was happening there "a crisis within a crisis." “Thousands of civilians are in need of vital assistance. […] They need an escape route from the apocalypse,” he said in turn.

Guterres arrived in Kyiv after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. At a meeting with the UN Secretary General, Putin said that the hostilities in Mariupol had been completed, and an order had been given not to carry out assault operations on the territory of the Azovstal plant. Putin also said that nearly 1,300 Ukrainian servicemen had surrendered.