UN secretary general laments ‘absurd’ war on visit to Ukraine

The UN secretary general has described the war in Ukraine as "an absurdity" in the 21st century on a visit to the scene of civilian killings outside Kyiv, as Russia warned the West that increasing arms supplies to Ukraine would endanger European security.

António Guterres was touring Borodianka on Thursday, where Russian forces are accused of massacring civilians before their withdrawal, on his first visit to Ukraine since the start of the invasion on February 24th, before talks with president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

"I imagine my family in one of those houses that is now destroyed and black," said the UN secretary general, who has been criticised for visiting Ukraine only after having first met Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow.

“I see my granddaughters running away in panic,” Mr Guterres said. “The war is an absurdity in the 21st century. The war is evil. There is no way a war can be acceptable in the 21st century.”

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Mr Guterres was accompanied by local military and civilian governors who showed him residential buildings that had been destroyed in Russian attacks. He was also due to visit the towns of Bucha and Irpin, sites of further alleged Russian war crimes.

He said the UN was doing all it could to enable the evacuation of a steel plant where fighters and civilians are holed up in the city of Mariupol.

A British military veteran was reportedly killed while fighting against Russian forces. Tributes were paid to Scott Sibley after the British foreign office confirmed a British national had died in Ukraine and another was missing. The families of both are being supported, a spokesperson said, declining to give names or further details. Mr Sibley was named by the BBC and Sky.

Heavy weapons

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned on Thursday that an increased western supply of heavy weapons to Kyiv would endanger European security.

“The tendency to pump weapons, including heavy weapons, into Ukraine, these are the actions that threaten the security of the continent, provoke instability,” Mr Peskov said.

Maria Zakharova, Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman, also warned the west on Thursday to stop encouraging Ukraine to strike at targets inside Russian territory, saying it was "trying our patience". Multiple targets, including fuel and ammunition depots, have been hit in Russian provinces bordering Ukraine in recent days.

“Such aggression against Russia cannot remain without an answer,” Ms Zakharova said. “We would like Kyiv and western capitals to take seriously the statement that further provocation prompting Ukraine to strike against Russian facilities will be met with a harsh response from Russia.”

Senior Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak defended Ukraine’s right to strike inside Russia, saying: “Ukraine will defend itself in any way, including strikes on the warehouses and bases of the killers in Russia. The world recognises this right.”

Logistics

Britain's defence secretary Ben Wallace on Thursday also repeated the UK's assertion that it was "legitimate under international law" for Ukrainian forces to target Russian logistics infrastructure, but he said such attacks were unlikely to use British weapons.

He also denied Nato was locked in a "proxy war" with Russia, but said the West would provide increased support to Ukraine if the Russian attacks continued. "Sometimes that will include planes and tanks," he added.

Germany’s parliament on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a petition backing the delivery of weapons, including heavy arms, to Ukraine to help it fend off Russian attacks.

Meanwhile, Nato's secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said non-aligned Finland and Sweden would be welcome in the alliance.

“It is, of course, for Finland and Sweden to decide whether they would like to apply for membership in Nato or not,” Mr Stoltenberg said on Thursday. “But if they decide to apply, Finland and Sweden will be welcomed with open arms.”

– Guardian/Agencies