New York

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will visit Ukraine on April 28 where he will meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

"The Secretary-General will visit Ukraine next week. He will have a working meeting with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and will be received by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on 28 April. He will also meet with staff of UN agencies to discuss the scaling up of humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine," the UN press service said in a statement.

This was announced a few hours after an announcement that Guterres will visit Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Eri Kaneko announced the visit on Friday. The Kremlin also confirmed the visit, saying Putin and Lavrov will receive Guterres for talks.

"The Secretary-General will visit Moscow, Russian Federation, where, on Tuesday, April 26, he will have a working meeting and lunch with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and will be received by President Vladimir Putin," she said.

Kaneko noted that Putin and Lavrov will meet with Guterres on the same day.

On Tuesday, Guterres called for a four-day humanitarian pause in Ukraine and appealed to all sides to the conflict to open a window for dialogue and peace.

The humanitarian pause suggested by Guterres entails launching humanitarian corridors for civilians to leave the embattled areas of Ukraine.