UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on Moscow to declare a ceasefire in Ukraine “as soon as possible” and end the war in the country. He did this during his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

According to Guterres, it has every interest in doing “everything possible” to end the war and the population’s suffering. So it said at the start of the meeting in Moscow on Tuesday. The war is already affecting food and energy prices worldwide, the UN Secretary-General warned.

Although the situation in Ukraine is “complex, with different interpretations of what is happening”, it should be possible to have “a serious dialogue about how we can best work to minimize the suffering of the people”, added.

After meeting with Lavrov, another meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled. Then it goes to Ukraine. However, in that country, there was already a lot of criticism of Guterres’ choice to go to Russia first. Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky said, among other things, that he “sees no justice and no logic in this order”.