United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for using diplomatic means to ease tensions between Russia and Ukraine, in the backdrop of an increasing threat of an invasion.

“In Ukraine, (it is necessary) to reduce tensions, and I urge that all issues be addressed exclusively through diplomacy. I pledge to spare no effort to mobilize the international community – and step up our push for peace,” he said at a General Assembly meeting on priorities of work in 2022. 

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Western leaders have voiced concern about the likelihood of a Russian invasion this week starting with ‘aerial bombings and missile attack’ – a charge that Russia continues to deny. More than a dozen countries have asked their citizens to leave Ukraine as Moscow stations soldiers on three sides. 

The UN chief spoke to foreign ministers of both the countries on Monday and expressed ‘serious concern’ over the tensions between the two. 

He said that “the price in human suffering, destruction and damage to European and global security is too high to contemplate.”

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Spokesperson of the UN, Stephane Dujjaric, told reporters that the chief urged Russia’s Sergei Lavror and Ukraine’s Dymtro Kuleba for using diplomacy as it was ‘the only way forward’.

“The secretary general expressed to both foreign ministers his serious concern over the heightened tensions around Ukraine. He welcomed the ongoing diplomatic discussions to defuse those tensions and underline yet again the fact that there is no alternative to diplomacy,” Dujjaric said, according to a report by news agency AFP.

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He added that Guterres was still of the view that Russia would not invade Ukraine. “I don’t believe his opinion has changed in any way,” he said, referring to the UN chief’s stance from a press conference in January this year. 

The UN Security Council is due to meet on Thursday for its annual meeting on Ukraine and the Minsk agreements, which lays out a roadmap for a lasting settlement in Ukraine.