UN Relief Chief: Turkey presented itself as a genuinely valuable and useful host

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said he was impressed by how Turkey has presented itself to Russian and Ukranian sides as a “genuinely valuable and useful host” for talks.

“In classical mediation terms, there isn’t a mediation really going on between the Russians and Ukrainians but the Turks come closest to it, I think, of all Member States ” Griffiths said speaking to journalists at UN Headquarters. 

He said he will travel to Turkey this week to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on hosting humanitarian talks between Russia and Ukraine. However later he announced from his twitter account that he is COVID positive and had to cancel his travels. 

UN relief chief Martin Griffiths told journalists that although humanitarian ceasefires in Ukraine are “not on the horizon right now”, they could be in a couple of weeks.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has again called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine to allow delivery of life-saving aid as well as evacuations, his spokesperson said on Monday.

The appeal followed attacks on cities across the country– most recently Lviv, Dnipro, Kharkiv and Mykolaiv – which resulted in numerous civilian casualties and destruction.

Mr. Guterres was also greatly concerned about the continuing appalling humanitarian situation in the besieged port city of Mariupol, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in New York.

“The Secretary-General strongly urges all parties to enact an urgent and immediate humanitarian ceasefire, which will enable the safe and secure functioning of humanitarian corridors, help evacuate civilian residents and also deliver life-saving humanitarian and medical assistance,” said Mr. Dujarric, speaking during his daily briefing at UN Headquarters.

On Sunday, the Secretary-General spoke with President Erdoğan, expressing his ongoing support for the Istanbul process related to the war in Ukraine.  He also underlined the need for humanitarian corridors for aid distribution and evacuations.