Desk Report
Publish: 20 Apr 2022, 09:56 am
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during the 11th emergency special session of the 193-member UN General Assembly on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, at the United Nations Headquarters in Manhattan, New York City, New York, US on February 28, 2022. || Photo: Reuters
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday denounced
Russia’s fresh offensive in eastern Ukraine and called for a four-day truce to
mark Orthodox Holy Week.
Russia launched dozens of airstrikes across eastern Ukraine
overnight, as a new phase of the bloody conflict opened with fighting raging in
the Donbas region.
“Instead of a celebration of new life, this Easter coincides
with a Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine,” Guterres told reporters.
“The intense concentration of forces and firepower makes this
battle inevitably more violent, bloody and destructive,” he said, calling for a
“humanitarian pause” from Holy Thursday until Easter Sunday on April 24.
“Easter is a season for renewal, resurrection and hope....
But this year, Holy Week is being observed under the cloud of a war.”
“Hundreds of thousands of lives hang in the balance,” the
United Nations chief said.
Ukraine’s armed forces confirmed fighting had increased
throughout the east, after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia had kicked
off the widely anticipated offensive in the Donbas, Ukraine’s industrial
heartland.
Russia’s military campaign refocused on Donbas, which
pro-Moscow separatists have partly controlled since 2014, after its efforts to
capture the capital Kyiv were thwarted.
Guterres said a truce would allow safe passage for civilians
to flee the eastern war zone, and for humanitarian aid to be delivered to the
hardest-hit areas.
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