By CECILIA OLOGUNAGBA

UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has expressed support for Turkey’s on-going diplomatic efforts in relation to the war in Ukraine.

Guterres, in a statement, expressed his support when he visited the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in Ankara, Turkey on Monday.

“He and President Erdoğan reaffirmed that their common objective was to end the war as soon as possible and to create conditions to end the suffering of civilians.

“They stressed the urgent need for effective access through humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians and deliver much needed assistance to impacted communities.

“The president and the secretary-general agreed to stay in contact to follow up on ongoing initiatives,” it stated.

According to the statement, they also discussed the impact of the war in Ukraine on regional and global issues, including energy, food and finance.

The UN Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Guterres has travelled from Turkey to Russia.

UN Associate Spokesperson, Eri Kaneko, in a statement on Friday, said the UN chief would be received by the President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday.

Kaneko said the UN chief would be meeting and having lunch with Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, that same day.

“He hopes to talk about what can be done to bring peace to Ukraine urgently,” she said.

Similarly, the UN spokesperson announced in another statement that Guterres would also travel to Ukraine.

He will have a working meeting with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and will be received by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday.

The UN chief would meet as well with UN staff on the ground to discuss the scaling up of humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine. (NAN)