Chief of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, warned of the escalating tensions between Russia and the West over the crisis in Ukraine, and said that he was “deeply worried” about the possibility of a war breaking out.
He expressed his concern and said that the time is not to defuse tensions and de-escalate actions on the ground, as Russia stations more troops near the borders of Ukraine.
He had earlier spoken to the foreign ministers of both Russia and Ukraine to convey his thoughts and concerns.
He called for the “incendiary rhetoric” to be ended, saying that “we simply cannot accept even the possibility of such a disastrous confrontation, there is no alternative to diplomacy”.
Guterres described the abandoning of diplomacy for confrontation as “not a step over a line” but a “dive over a cliff”.
According to spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, Guterres remains convinced that Russia will not invade Ukraine, as he welcomed the ongoing diplomatic discussions to defuse tensions.
The UN has about 1,660 staff members stationed in Ukraine, of which 220 are foreigners.
Dujarric added that the UN are not planning to evacuate or relocated their staff from Ukraine, and a meeting is scheduled to be held on Thursday by the Security Council on the Ukraine and Minsk agreements, seeking to end the war in the eastern Donbas region.